England manager Gareth Southgate addresses latest Jack Grealish snub

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England boss Gareth Southgate has offered an explanation for his latest snub for Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish.

The 24-year-old midfielder has missed out on another Three Lions squad, despite some fantastic form of late that has seen him land a Premier League Player of the Month nomination for October.

The star has been excellent for Dean Smith’s side and lots of Villa fans felt sure he would be rewarded with an international call-up this time around.

But it wasn’t to be, and Southgate has given his reasons in a press conference.

He said (Birmingham Mail): “He’s a very good player – I’ve watched him closely this season.

“The reality of that is he’s up against [Raheem] Sterling, [Marcus] Rashford, [Callum] Hudson-Odoi and [Jadon] Sancho in those wide areas.

“He’s very close, he just has to keep playing the way he is, and if we had issues over the weekend, I wouldn’t hesitate to call him into the squad.”

TBR’s view – Grealish extremely unlucky

Villa’s captain can count himself very unlucky not to have received a call-up by Southgate for the upcoming games against Montenegro and Kosovo.

He’s been a key figure for Smith over the last few weeks, and most of the season for that matter.

His form has steadily been improving, and he simply has to be Southgate’s first point of call if anyone has to drop out.