Gareth Southgate – Jack Grealish Must Play In The Premier League To Earn Senior Cap

England manager, Gareth Southgate has spelt out the requirements needed for Jack Grealish to make an appearance for the Senior team. The English gaffer has stated that Grealish would need to feature in the Premier League if he must have any hopes of earning a cap for the England National Team.

Jack Grealish, 23, switched football allegiance in 2015 when he opted out of representing Northern Ireland to play for the Three Lions. He represented England at the U-21s but is no longer age-eligible.

He is yet to make his senior debut and has had to watch others overtake him including the likes of Sancho, 18, Hudson-Odoi, 18, and Grealish’s compatriot, Declan Rice, 20, who made their senior debuts at England’s 5-0 mauling of Czech Republic.

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Southgate mentioned that Grealish would always have the disadvantage of playing at a lower level. The English gaffer who was also at some point an Aston Villa player just like Grealish said that he hoped that the problem could be solved soon and that the club gets promoted.

He said:

Jack worked with us in the Under-21s briefly. The difficulty is always, although we can see the quality. When the evidence of the opponent is a different level, that’s where it’s hard to directly correlate what that is going to look like at a level above. With Callum [Hudson-Odoi], he’s playing Europa League, he’s playing Premier League, that does make a difference.

“I’m not going to say we won’t pick a player from the Championship because that could happen but it’s far more difficult to assess his level. You see certain parts of the game but not others. Not the physicality at times, nor the tactical discipline. That’s another level in the Premier League: the speed, the pace. So, he’s a player we know all about, he’s a player we track. But that last bit of evidence that could give you confidence to pick him at the moment we won’t see. But as an ex-Villa man I hope it’s not too long before we do see it.”

Southgate also said that he believed Hudsonn-Odoi had played a number of matches considered as reasonable for a player of his age.

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