Before returning to the England Under-21 squad, Lee Carsley will give Thomas Tuchel a “very detailed handover”, according to the FA.
It should be an extensive dossier, an attractive attachment to an email, detailing a deepening talent pool with eight debutants in Carsley's six interim games, a strong squad spirit and even a left-footed left-back in Lewis Hall, as well as the continued importance of Harry Kane.
“I’m going to put together a document,” Carsley confirmed afterwards this brought England back into League A of the Nations League.
“I will hopefully meet Thomas and tell him what we think and what we have found. I look forward to getting to know him in the next few weeks.
“The job for us as an under-21 team is to support the senior manager as best we can, find out what he needs and how we can help.”
He certainly helped Tuchel enormously.
The Kane section of Carsley's document should be fascinating. Tuchel hardly needs any further information about Kane given he brought him to Bayern Munich, but Carsley's report will certainly remind him of the captain's caliber and 'leadership qualities'.
At 31 and without pace, Kane is always questioned, but he finds answers. He develops goals.
It's hard to see how anyone can match Kane's England goal tally, which currently stands at 69 after 103 appearances, and he could potentially still have 20 games left. Tuchel will certainly keep him as captain and No.9 in England's 2026 World Cup campaign.
Kane's influence and agility were criticized at Euro 24, but he still finished joint top scorer.
Kane's claim to a starting place was thrown into doubt when Ollie Watkins started ahead of him in Athens last Thursday and scored within seven minutes against Greece.
The former Tottenham goalscorer was used cleverly by Carsley as he only played one game per international break, keeping him fresh. He remains the captain.
Part of the concern for Kane was his insistence on diving deep, drifting into space where Jude Bellingham was making his plans, and then not being able to get back to the attack quickly enough.
In a frustrating first half where incidents and ideas were few and far between, Kane once again fell deep and was brought down by Jayson Molumby. In the 27th minute, Kane collected the ball but realized there were nine field players between him and Caoimhin Kelleher.
Here's the mystery with Kane. He has an exceptional passing game, as he demonstrated at the start of the second half when he released Bellingham to win the penalty, which Kane himself coolly converted.
Carsley raved about Kane's “quality, the pass he made to Jude was an incredible pass,” and made it clear that Kane needed to have the right structure, basically the pace.
“We complemented him well with the runs Jude made and the explosiveness of the players outside of him,” Carsley said.
That was the key. Kane needs pace and agility around him and he had that with Noni Madueke and Anthony Gordon, then Morgan Rogers and Jarrod Bowen. Bukayo Saka returns to the right side and Phil Foden and Cole Palmer will replace Bellingham at number 10.
Carsley will need plenty of space in his document to list England's options. “Selecting the next squad will be a challenge,” Carsley said.
Gordon scored England's second goal, capping off some fine approach play from his Newcastle United team-mate Tino Livramento – and some chaotic Irish defending.
Gordon didn't have the best performance in the first half but, under Carsley, for the most part showed the balance and threat that he brings to England on the left. Madueke built on his good season at Chelsea with his performances on the right.
Carsley can inform Tuchel that the full-back picture looks more positive after Hall's first appearance at left-back. He was composed, coped well with the few Irish attacks that came his way and quickly supported the attack.
Tuchel knows all about him anyway, having given Hall his Chelsea debut in 2022. Especially with Livramento's confident performance in the second half, the right-back is ridiculously overmanned with Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold set to return.
In midfield, Conor Gallagher has become even more of a consistent, ball-winning and ball-using force at Atletico Madrid and reacted well to convert Marc Guehi's cross from a Madueke corner to make it 3-0.
The Three Lions were rampant and Bowen made it 4-0 with his first touch of the ball.
To underline Tuchel's wealth of talent, Carsley can report that Taylor Harwood-Bellis came on as a substitute on his senior debut and promptly headed in Bellingham's majestic cross.
Not only will Carsley's lengthy document be Great Expectations, there will also be touches of Bleak House.
He can tell Tuchel about the media scrutiny. He can think about what the English headquarters might look like in bad times.
“I’m still disappointed about the Greek home game,” Carsley said. “It’s a lonely place in the Wembley dugout when you’re losing.”
Although it was a painful experience at times and was largely due to his decision to play too many No. 10 players and none No. 9, Carsley at least turned the group around and helped England win promotion.
Thanks to Carsley, Tuchel can concentrate on the World Cup when he takes over as head coach on January 1st.
“It’s a job that deserves an elite coach with a track record of success,” Carsley said.
“And Thomas has this.”
And soon a long document lands in his inbox.