Foden was asked a direct question about the England manager. He gave a direct answer.

“No, I haven’t really spoken to him to be honest, so not much to say on that,” the Manchester City forward told his pre-match press conference this week.

Months after Tuchel named the squad that carried England to the semi-finals in North America without him, the 26-year-old has not had the conversation he would clearly like.

He said football was full of ups and downs and that he could only control the part of the game that belonged to him.

Read also: Whittaker wants Pereira back at light heavyweight: ‘It would be fun’

“Hopefully, one day, that call-up might come back,” he told reporters.

A hat-trick and a return to form

The timing matters because Foden is scoring again. He netted a hat-trick and added an assist in Manchester City’s 5-1 Champions League win over AEK Athens, his best night of the season so far. He had already opened his Premier League account at Ipswich Town a few days earlier.

The goals came after a three-match suspension the former PFA Player of the Year picked up for a red card in the Manchester derby in September, a month out of the game while City won 1-0 at Manchester United.

England moved on without him

Tuchel’s England reached the last four of the FIFA World Cup in July. They lost 2-1 to Argentina in the semi-final in Atlanta, beaten by two late goals from Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez after Anthony Gordon had put them in front. Argentina went on to lose the final to Spain.

Read also: Portugal’s Prime Minister speaks out following Cristiano Ronaldo’s retirement announcement

Foden watched all of it from outside the squad. He was left out again when Tuchel picked his group for September’s international window, deepening questions about where the City forward sits in the current England manager’s plans.

Tuchel names his next Nations League squad on Friday.

Read also: “Ajax’s Tolu Arokodare on Ter Stegen: “You feel like punching him