Jack Grealish was left out of Gareth Southgate's 26-man England squad for the Euros (Image: The FA via Getty Images)
Jack Grealish summed up his heartbreak at being left out of England’s Euro 2024 squad by showing how much playing for the Three Lions means to him. Grealish took to Instagram just days before the snub to share a picture of himself in action for his country with the words: “Nothing better.”
The Manchester City star, 28, was brutally left out of Gareth Southgate’s 26-man final squad for the tournament. He was one of several big-names denied a seat on the plane to Germany, along with Marcus Rashford and James Maddison.
Grealish may have been caught off guard at his exclusion given that he featured in England’s penultimate pre-Euros friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Having come off the bench, he assisted Trent Alexander-Arnold to help seal a 3-0 win.
Gareth Southgate [L] did not value Jack Grealish [R] enough to include him in the England squad (Image: Getty)
But the £100million winger will now have to settle for watching from home while his mates take on Serbia on Sunday. Southgate’s men will begin their quest to end a six decade-long trophy drought in Gelsenkirchen.
Grealish has not yet spoken publicly about his snub, unlike Tottenham talisman Maddison, who said he was “devastated” on social media. The midfielder argued that he had trained and worked hard “all week” in the lead-up to the squad announcement, before admitting he thought there was enough space to accomodate him in such a large squad.
Meanwhile, Grealish’s exclusion came as a shock for different reasons. He has 36 England caps and was called up by Southgate for both Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup, meaning he possesses valuable tournament experience.
Yet his club form has done little to earn him any favours, having managed only three goals and an assist last season. City claimed a fourth successive Premier League title but Grealish was involved in just 20 out of 38 league fixtures.
Opening up about his tough decision to leave out the forward, Southgate said: "We're blessed with options in attacking areas, all offering something slightly different. Madders and Jack give us something different as well, so they're tough calls.
"We've gone over it and over it as staff to try and be fair. We back our decisions but we recognise we could have gone a different route. Both boys are big characters and great to work with."
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