Jack Grealish is officially an England player, but there’s just one problem

The Jack Grealish saga, you’ll be happy to hear, is officially over.

The 20 year old Aston Villa midfielder has been granted permission by Fifa to play for England.

Grealish made 19 appearances for Republic of Ireland under-age teams, but turned down the chance to play for the Irish senior team when he decided, last September, to declare for the country of his birth.

The Birmingham born midfielder has now been given official clearance to play for Roy Hodgson’s team.

A Fifa statement reads: “The single judge decided to accept the request of the Football Association and the player Jack Grealish based on article eight paragraph one in conjunction with article five paragraph three of the regulations governing the application of the FIFA statutes.”

While article eight states that: “If a player has more than one nationality, or if a player acquires a new nationality, or if a player is eligible to play for several representative teams due to nationality, he may, only once, request to change the Association for which he is eligible to play international matches to the Association of another country of which he holds nationality.”

So Jack is now clear to play for the England senior national team. However, there’s just one small problem:

Grealish hasn’t played for Villa since January, and has only managed 12 Premier League appearances this season.

Meanwhile, based on our power rankings, Burnley defender Stephen Ward appears to have an excellent chance of making the Ireland Euro 2016 squad, in what would be his second trip to a major international tournament.

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