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Thomas Tuchel has not ruled out picking Manchester City players for his England squad if the club are relegated after they were found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules.

It was confirmed on Tuesday that an independent commission had found the club had arranged “sham contracts” to circumvent financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, ruling them guilty of nearly all of the 115 charges against them.

Manchester City have reiterated their innocence and appealed the decision on Thursday night after claiming that they had an “irrefutable body of evidence” to challenge the verdict.

The length of the appeal process is currently unknown but City could discover their sanction before that is complete, just as Everton and Nottingham Forest experienced previously.

Having inflated revenue and concealed costs by more ‌than £900m over the nine-year period, an extremely severe punishment is expected, which could constitute a massive points deduction of expulsion from the Premier League.

Should the current league leaders end up outside the top-flight, Tuchel insists playing in a lower division does not rule players out of England contention.

"There is always a possibility,” he told a press conference ahead of England’s Nations League clash with Croatia.

“I would always try to pick the best team for the camp, occasion, the tournament. I will never rule out that because they don't play in the top flight in their country. We need to look at it case by case."

Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly and Elliot Anderson made up the City contingent in the squad Tuchel selected for the ongoing international break, with Phil Foden snubbed once again after also missing the World Cup. O’Reilly has since withdrawn due to injury.

The City verdict unsurprisingly has the rest of the England squad talking.

"I guess so. We had some time off between the matches and it is a big subject. Everyone speaks about it, so there is no other voice needed. I am glad to be not that voice. No one needs my half knowledge on the topic.

"Of course, the players talk about it. City players talk about it. We talk with them but only briefly. They are ready to go tomorrow. But of course, it's a big topic in the camp."