Apart from a few exceptions, including perhaps another Manchester City player in John Stones, Tuchel has shown that reputation means little over form.
If standards drop there is a line of players waiting to take advantage.
Tuchel was always going to take Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham, even though the England coach has expressed some doubts in the past.
Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, who netted Aston Villa’s third goal in their 3-0 Europa League triumph over Freiburg, has been trusted by Tuchel throughout his tenure.
But Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White, the joint top English scorer in the Premier League this season with 14 goals, has not done enough to get on the plane.
Gibbs-White has won six England caps, but not featured since the 3-0 friendly win over Wales in October.
It may be telling that his only competitive appearances under Tuchel came in the two World Cup qualifiers against minnows Andorra.
Despite scoring six goals in his past six club matches, it has not changed the coach’s mind.
The winner looks like being Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze, who has played consistently well on the ball even if the stats might not show it.
Seven goals and two assists in the Gunners’ Premier League title-winning campaign does not seem impressive – but he netted three goals in six World Cup qualifiers for Tuchel.
Eze sat out the March friendlies through injury, opening the door for Foden and Palmer to force their way into Tuchel’s plans.
England drew 1-1 with Uruguay and lost 1-0 to Japan, both hugely uninspiring performances.
So Eze’s absence only served to prove to Tuchel just how important he could be in offering something different to Bellingham and Rogers.
Eze is a player who could add pace and unpredictability, to change the way the team is playing.
At one stage Foden and Palmer would be predicted to be starters, not even alternative options like Eze.
Now they have to live with the reality that they are not deemed good enough, on form at least, for the squad.