Thomas Tuchel has agreed to become England manager after talks with the Football Association accelerated on Tuesday. The 51-year-old becomes the men’s team’s third foreign manager and the first from Germany.

The FA has shortlisted Tuchel since the start of the process to find Gareth Southgate’s permanent successor, a list that included Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola and interim manager Lee Carsley.

It focused on Tuchel, who led Chelsea to Champions League glory in 2021 – the highlight of an impressive CV. He has been out of work since leaving Bayern Munich in May.

Tuchel, who is expected to address the media at Wembley on Wednesday, follows Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fabio Capello in taking the job as foreign head coach. The FA’s chief executive Mark Bullingham, who led the recruitment process with technical director John McDermott, has long been clear that nationality should not be a barrier to the role.

Bullingham made it clear during the European Championship in June that the English women’s head coach Sarina Wiegman is Dutch. In other words, the FA was and is very happy to put its trust in someone from outside England.

There is no doubt that Tuchel is an Anglophile. He speaks excellent English – a requirement for the FA in terms of an overseas candidate – and he embraced his 18 months at Chelsea, becoming a cult hero to their fans.

Tuchel’s skills as an orator and leader came to the fore when he spoke out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, despite Chelsea being owned at the time by a Russian, Roman Abramovich. Tuchel discovered that he liked the more personality-oriented aspect of the British media.

Tuchel is uncompromising and has left his previous four jobs under something of a cloud, with reports of rows with players and directors following his departure from – in chronological order – Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern.

On the other hand, when Tuchel is on the right track, he has the ability to energize and inspire, to build momentum. He is extremely charismatic and has a proven track record at the highest level. He won everything on home front at PSG before narrowly managing to deliver them a first Champions League trophy, losing to Bayern in the 2020 final. He would make up for that on a personal level at Chelsea. He had won the DFB-Pokal at Dortmund. He would win the Bundesliga at Bayern.

Tuchel was expected to bring England coach Anthony Barry with him, having worked with him at Chelsea and Bayern. Barry is assistant to Portuguese manager Roberto Martínez.

The FA had seriously considered promoting Carsley on a permanent basis from his role as England Under-21 coach, but doubts arose over his suitability, not to mention whether he actually wanted the job. Carsley was heavily criticized for his team’s performance in last Thursday’s 2-1 Wembley defeat to Greece and has at times struggled to communicate effectively at media conferences. Carsley is expected to remain in charge of the Nations League matches against Greece in Athens and the Republic of Ireland at Wembley next month.

The FA contacted Guardiola at the start of the process, but signing him away from City was always considered a gamble. Eddie Howe and Graham Potter were the leading English candidates. Howe is concentrating on his work at Newcastle, where his contract contains a release clause of around £5 million. Potter, who was between jobs after leaving Chelsea in April 2023, is leaning more towards a return to club management.

England captain Harry Kane, who signed for Tuchel’s Bayern Munich in 2023, said: “Until it’s announced obviously I can’t really comment but we’ll have to wait and see. Of course I know Thomas well from last year. Fantastic coach, fantastic person, so I’m sure the FA guys will get back to me when they find out more.”