London (dpa)
Jack Grealish still believes that Gareth Southgate should have included him in the England national football team, which participated in the European Championship “Euro 2024”, but he feels love under the leadership of Lee Carsley, the interim coach of the national team.
Grealish (29 years old) was among the most prominent players who were excluded from the England national team’s roster in the tournament hosted by Germany in the summer, as he was on the team’s roster that qualified for the Euro 2020 final, and also on the roster that reached the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.
The British news agency, PA Media, reported that Grealish was very sad about being excluded from the expanded list that preceded the tournament, and Southgate’s decision is still stuck in his memory.
The Manchester City winger told the BBC: “I think everyone can imagine how shocked I am.”
He added: “I mentioned this before and said that it was probably one of the most difficult periods in my life, specifically in football.” He said: “But I think that when you are in a situation like this you must try to turn it into something positive, and do everything in your power to come back stronger and better. It is clear that I am still working on this now.”
He added: “I felt that I did not have my best season. You look at some players in the same position as me, such as Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon, and Jarrod Bowen. They scored a lot of goals, which is something I agree with 100 percent.”
He said: “But I know that the game is not only about goals. I think I provided more than goals for the team, and I think you need a little balance in every position. I classify myself as a player with great experience. I played in many major matches, the Champions League final, the final. “The FA Cup, I’ve won a lot of titles now.”
He added: “I still believe that I should have been included in the list, but unfortunately that did not happen.”
Grealish was re-called to the first list chosen by Carsley, after his promising start with Manchester City, and he started in the first two matches of the English national team in the European Nations League. He appeared wonderfully against the Irish national team, for which he played at the youth level, before choosing to play for the English national team. He also scored a goal in the match that ended in a 2-0 victory for the English national team.
Grealish said: “I wanted to come here, train well, and play well. I thank the coach, Lee Carsley, for giving me the opportunity and his trust in me. This meant a lot to me.”
He added: “Throughout my career, I played under coaches who showed confidence in me, and communicated with me the way he communicated with me in the last two camps. This helped me a lot.”
“It makes me feel like the coach appreciates me, and I can’t speak highly enough of him,” he said.
Grealish refused to compare the camps while Southgate was coaching the England national team with the current period in which Carsley is coaching the team, but he said that he “felt a lot of love and a lot of trust” from the interim coach.
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