After what was considered by many a surprise omission from Gareth Southgate’s England squad, Jack Grealish now finds himself selected for the upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures this weekend.
Grealish is in the squad following the withdrawal of Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford through injury.
Whilst Grealish’s end of season form wasn’t nearly at the heights of earlier in the campaign (or indeed that of the Championship), there can be little denying the midfielder’s importance at Villa Park.
Many will also be pondering how Grealish will be utilised by England and how Villa’s club Captain fares. If he should find himself picked, fixtures against Iceland and Denmark may provide Southgate with an ideal test-bed for JG at international level.
Grealish contributed eight goals and six assists across last season, comfortably putting him in the top bracket for goal creation in The Premier League.
Embed from Getty ImagesFor some Villa supporter’s, this marks the moment where a true home-grown youngster has both developed and fully justified an England call-up. For others, this might be a milestone where concern for both the risk of injury and putting the club’s marquee player in the global shop window play out.
What this is certainly however is deserved recognition of Grealish’s over-all development. At the point of Villa’s relegation to the Championship [2015], Grealish found himself needing to mature and progress into the player with the potential he so visibly possessed.
Whilst we’ve since witnessed Grealish flourish into a technically capable and dangerous midfielder, this is now the moment where we ponder whether this could be the next journey, to test just to what height’s the 24 eyar olds career with England (and hopefully Villa) will reach.
Grealish will link up with the squad who have been at St George’s since Monday.
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