Jack Grealish has said he is grateful for the trust Lee Carsley has placed in him after being left out of England’s Euro 2024 squad, but predicted that the interim head coach could suffer from sleepless nights as he attempts to fit into one team all the talented players at his disposal.
Grealish started England’s games against the Republic of Ireland and Finland last month in a No 10 role as Carsley began his tenure with convincing wins. The Manchester City forward scored in Dublin in England’s 2-0 victory but is expected to vie with Jude Bellingham and Cole Palmer, who were absent last month, to face Greece at Wembley on Thursday night.
Grealish described his partner, Sasha Attwood, giving birth to their first child – a daughter named Mila Rose – at the end of September as “the best moment of my life”. But asked whether he or Carsley will be experiencing more sleepless nights over the next few weeks, he said: “I think he’ll have a lot more with the players that he’s got to pick from.”
Grealish said he could not remember the last time he had started two successive matches for England, and paid tribute to Carsley after being left out of the European Championship squad by Gareth Southgate.
“I didn’t really agree with it because it’s just me,” he told BBC 5 Live of his summer exclusion. “I felt like I didn’t have the best season. You know, I didn’t ... you look at some players, for example, in my position, even the likes of Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon, Jarrod Bowen, people like this, they scored a lot of goals, which 100% I agree with. But I just know that my game is not just about goals. I think I give so much more to the team than just goals.
“I thank the manager here for giving me that chance and having that trust in me. It’s obviously really meant a lot. I think throughout my career when I’ve played under managers that have shown a trust in me and communicated with me the way he has in the past two camps it really helps me. It makes me feel that the manager really does rate me and I can’t speak highly enough of him since I’ve been here.”
Harry Kane’s participation against Greece – who also picked up maximum points in their first two Nations League fixtures – remains in doubt after the England captain trained indoors on Tuesday on an individual programme. He was substituted during Bayern Munich’s draw with Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend with a groin injury but scans have shown no major damage.
“Good news with the scan,” Kane told Cleats Club, a new social media app he has invested in and is driving. “It has come back all positive. So, I’m with England now. It’s a short camp, two quick games. So I’m just going to take it day-by-day, see how it’s feeling and go from there. It’s a busy period of the season so I’m bound to pick up little niggles so it’s important to recover.”
Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins is in line to start if Kane is not available, and Carsley could turn to Dominic Solanke after the striker was recalled for the first time in seven years. The Tottenham player admitted he was eager to make up for lost time having helped England to win the Under-20 World Cup in 2017.
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“Everyone’s journey is different,” he said. “I was in the England setup throughout all the age groups. We had great teams, we won quite a few trophies so that was great memories. Hopefully we can do it for the seniors now as well. It would be nice to win some trophies. That’s the next step for the country.”