If Jude Bellingham or Phil Foden are left out of Thomas Tuchel’s upcoming England squad, there are real doubts about whether they will be included for the World Cup. Foden missing out on the North American showpiece would be seismic. Bellingham being overlooked is inconceivable.
The head coach will announce his latest line-up on Friday for the World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania, and this will be the final time he selects an England squad for competitive matches before the World Cup finals themselves.
It will also be the final time he has the squad together before March, when two friendly games will precede his key squad announcement in May.
Nevertheless, with England already qualified for the finals, Tuchel has to decide whether to experiment, or begin building a settled squad which will follow through all the way to North America next summer.
The strong impression around the squad is that it will be the latter, with only four more England matches before he selects the big one. Miss out now, and unless you are injured, the feeling is you can probably start making holiday plans for next June.
In omitting Bellingham and Foden from the international camp last month, Tuchel said they are both 'special' players, but he wanted to reward those who had performed so well for him in September by, where possible, naming the same squad. He can use no such reasoning this time. If either is left out, it will be impossible for the boss to make people believe that, barring injury, they are still in his plans for next summer.
The Bellingham situation is a more complicated and sensitive one than for Foden. It is one that needs to be handled cleverly and diplomatically for England's most high-profile and enigmatic player.
Tuchel bristled when I reminded him a month ago that he'd called Bellingham 'repulsive' in June. In turn, he reminded me that he had apologised for that, and didn't mean the word he used. He insisted pointedly that there is no problem in his relationship with the Real Madrid star, and that he would call him for a chat before this next international break.
But the fact is that Tuchel turned down the chance to build bridges with Bellingham last month, leaving him out when the player wanted to join up and the two men have not met face to face since that unfortunate mud-slinging in June.
Bellingham is in brilliant form for his club. Whilst he was uncharacteristically quiet against Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday, before that he scored a stunner on Saturday in the LaLiga victory over Valencia, and was man of the match against Barcelona in El Clasico, contributing an assist and the winning goal.
"I'd love to be (picked)," Bellingham said after the Liverpool game. "But it's not my call. I think you know whose call it is."
That didn't sound like the Galactico has been very impressed with the way Tuchel has treated him. The England boss wasn't at Anfield for the match either. If Bellingham is left out of this England squad, the headlines will write themselves.
He surely won't be, but if indeed he is selected, that won't be the end of the story. Now - because of the situation Tuchel has created - every camera lens and reporters' eye will be trained on how the two interact in this international break. Is there any tension? Is there familiarity? Is there... a bond?
Foden asked to be left out of the England squad in June because he was dealing with some personal and emotional issues, which he felt were contributing to some uncharacteristically poor performances on the pitch.
But he is back to his best now for Manchester City - Pep Guardiola has said as much - evidenced by his dominant performance in the Champions League this week against Borussia Dortmund, where he chipped in with two sublime goals.
He was left out of the England squad last month. If he doesn't make this squad, Foden will feel he is a long way from being top of Tuchel's thoughts for the World Cup, with Bellingham, the injured Cole Palmer, and the recently brilliant Morgan Rogers ahead of him in the England pecking order at No10. Eberechi Eze and Morgan Gibbs-White have also been favoured ahead of him by Tuchel.
"I'm loving it," Foden told TNT Sports after the Dortmund win. "I need to play with a smile on my face, which I'm doing."
Elsewhere, Nico O'Reilly could well keep his place in the squad at left back, after excelling there for Manchester City this season. He scored his first goal for the club too, against Bournemouth at the weekend.
Anthony Gordon will be devastated to miss out after his impressive performances for his country of late. He and Marcus Rashford seemed to have the left wing berths in the squad sown up.
Gordon scored his second England goal in Latvia last month, but it now looks inevitable he will be unavailable for this month's international camp after a recurrence of a hip injury forced him off in each of Newcastle's last two matches.
In some ways, that may do Tuchel a favour, meaning there is an extra slot in the squad available to accommodate one of the No10s who also plays as a winger - think Foden, Eze and Rogers.
The England boss has talked up Adam Wharton but never picked him for the senior squad. The Crystal Palace midfielder has now recovered from illness and is training again, and so is definitely on Tuchel's long list for consideration.
Danny Welbeck is another possible new (old) inclusion, we are told, but the man who turns 35 later this month will need to push past Ollie Watkins to make it into the squad.
He is, probably, the most natural like-for-like replacement for Harry Kane, should the captain get injured, and he is in great form - his six Premier League goals for Brighton so far this season is bettered only by Erling Haaland.
But he hasn't played for England since 2018, and there are question marks about whether Tuchel would seriously consider him now, with the World Cup seven months away.
