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Former Brighton and Chelsea manager Graham Potter was linked with England role

Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham revealed 10 candidates were spoken to before Thomas Tuchel was chosen to be England's new head coach.

Reports emerged earlier this week that the FA had approached Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, whose contract expires in the summer, but had not had a response.

Former Chelsea and Brighton boss Graham Potter was also linked with the roles as was Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe.

Former Chelsea and England manager Graham Potter was linked with the England jobAt Tuchel's presentation press conference at Wembley, Bullingham said "some were more up for the role than others" and was confident they had settled on the right man.

"The whole process was confidential. I understand at times that may be frustrating for people but we had to make that confidential for us but also really, more importantly for the candidates," he said.

"We ran a really clear process, we spoke with approximately 10 people throughout. Clearly some were more up for the role than others.

"We were absolutely delighted to end up with Thomas and we believe he gives us the best chance of winning the World Cup so we believe we've got the best candidate for the job."

Bullingham defended the recruitment process, which had seen under-21 manager Lee Carsley promoted to fulfil an interim role for the three rounds of Nations League matches in September, October and November after Gareth Southgate resigned in mid-July after Euro 2024.

"We had a really clear recruitment plan in place before the Euros," added Bullingham.

"John McDermott (technical director) and the team developed our ideal profile for an international coach and a shortlist if we needed it.

"After Gareth resigned we executed that plan, met and evaluated potential candidates.

"Thomas was absolutely outstanding, providing a clear vision of how we will work with our players to get the best out of them and to give us the best chance in the World Cup.

"We wanted to wait for the international window to be over before we announced it."