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Dion Dublin has explained that Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish has told him he’s trying to get his head down, something that is certainly paying off for him at the start of this season.

The 25-year-old attacker recently marked his first England start with an assist in the win over Wales and it looks like he could nail down a spot in Gareth Southgate’s senior squad.

He’s earned the right to be in the national fold due to his eye-catching impressive performances at Villa Park and he’s been a talisman for the club for a number of years now.

Grealish has found great success in recent times for Dean Smith’s side operating as a left-winger and he will roam in the final third to cause defences problems.

The English playmaker has played in four games across all competitions at the start of the new season, scoring four goals and supplying three assist.

Ex-Villa forward Dublin has spoken about Grealish’s quality and briefly detailed a conversation he had with him.

“I think he draws the attention then knows when to pass it, draws the attention then knows when to ride the tackle,” Dublin told Football Focus on BBC One (12:07pm, 10 October).

“Just very intelligent football and I’ve actually spoken to him on a couple of occasions and he said ‘Dion I’m getting my head down’ and you can see he’s getting his head down now.

“I think for him to stay at Villa has possibly got him in the England squad because if he’d gone somewhere else and maybe not figured as much. Biggest signing Villa have made for many, many years.”

TBR’s View:

Despite the fact he’s had to wait a long time for it to come, Grealish has fully deserved to be in the England set-up in the past two squads and the way he’s started the season he won’t be giving it up easily.

He will have a major obstacle in trying to replace the likes of Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling or Jadon Sancho from the attacking wide positions, but his name now is at least in the mix.

The Villa man is certainly doing the business on the pitch right now and over the last 12 months he’s definitely started to mature.