Maybe it’s a good thing Jack Grealish has decided to spend the international break training at Aston Villa.
Having nailed his colours to the mast this week, it was thought the former Ireland underage star would only have to wait until the November friendlies to make his England debut.
However Three Lions boss Roy Hodgson has suggested it won’t be as easy as all that.
Grealish’s international clearance should come through in time for next month’s matches against Spain and France but the England boss, today announcing his squad for the final Euro 2016 qualifiers against Estonia and Lithuania, hinted that the 20-year-old may have to wait.
“He’s got the talent to be an England player, although he’s got a lot of work to do before that day. I was happy he took the bolder decision to be an England international,” said Hodgson.
“What matters now is that he plays well for Aston Villa.”
The attacking midfielder has less than a year to break into Hodgson’s squad for the European Championships in 2016, with England’s only other scheduled friendly at this stage a trip to Germany in March.
Grealish won’t be meeting up with the squad at St George’s Park next week, deciding instead to stay at Aston Villa to work on his fitness.
With Irish underage teams still reliant on English-born talent, Hodgson’s assessment of Grealish’s Irish ancestry (four Irish grandparents) is worth noting.
“He is English. It’s an English family, albeit with distant Irish roots,” said Hodgson, whose selection of Tottenham youngster Dele Alli did not meet with universal approval.
https://twitter.com/england/status/649546463979175937/photo/1
Roy Hodgson has apparently been to Spurs 3 times in 6 days to watch Dele Alli. He has been to Liberty Stadium once as England boss #Swans
— Gareth Vincent (@Gareth_Vincent) October 1, 2015
Dele Alli called up to England senior squad after 3 PL starts for Spurs. If you have great potential, that tends to be enough these days
— Oliver Kay (@OliverKay) October 1, 2015
