Gareth Southgate has warned Manchester City star Jack Grealish that he’s not guaranteed a place in England’s final 26 man squad for the Euros.
Having been a key part of the City side which won the treble in the 2022/2023 campaign Grealish has endured a difficult season which was impacted by injury, with the 28-year-old often overlooked in favour of Jeremy Doku.
Grealish has been part of the last two major tournaments for England, but is up against it to make the plane to Germany with the likes of Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon having much better campaigns than him.
Southgate offers no guarantees Grealish will make final squad
Next week’s friendlies against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland will offer Grealish an opportunity to remind Southgate of what he can do.
England are blessed for options in the wide areas with the likes of Bukayo Saka, Jarrod Bowen, Phil Foden, Gordon and Palmer all competing for places, and you could argue all five have had better seasons than Grealish.
Speaking ahead of Monday’s game, Southgate was asked if Grealish was one of the players at risk of being cut from the provisional 33 man squad, but insisted nothing has been decided yet.
“I don’t think we’re defining that just yet,” Southgate said in quotes picked up by The Guardian.
“He has been really bright and he loves being here, he’s had a good energy about his training.
“It’s obvious this season he has not played as much as last season.
“I’m sure he would have liked that to be different but we know the qualities he can bring and the qualities he has and he is a player we enjoy working with and a character we enjoy having within the group.
“I think we know where we’re likely to be, time is our friend this week.
“It’s worth using the time, tomorrow’s game could throw up another physical issue and then we’ve got something else in the mix.
“We think we know who the best have been across the season, what we don’t totally know is how many we need to take or how many we can allow ourselves to take because of the cover we might need in other positions as well.”