Real Reason Why Gareth Southgate U-turned on Jack Grealish after ‘brutally honest’ claim about Man City star

Jack Grealish is notably absent from England’s 26-man team for the 2024 European Championships, according to manager Gareth Southgate.

Jack Grealish has been left out of the England squad for Euro 2024 (Image: Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

When choosing his England team for the Euros, Gareth Southgate had to make difficult choices. Most notably, he had to leave out Jack Grealish.

The star player for Manchester City, who excelled at both the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2020, was one of the most prominent players left off of the squad that travelled to Germany this summer. This is in spite of Southgate’s prior declarations that, even in the off-season of the previous season, he was a “huge fan” of Grealish.

Grealish is frequently “brutally honest” about his own playing, which Southgate conceded may be detrimental to his confidence and form. In October, following England’s 1-0 victory against Australia, Southgate remarked, “I think he’s too hard on himself sometimes.”

In addition to praising Grealish’s extraordinary skill, Southgate also named James Maddison as a gifted player who was left off the roster, stating that the two “see the world differently,” according to the Mirror.

Grealish and Maddison were left from the roster eight months later. “We’re blessed with options in attacking areas, each offering something slightly different,” Southgate clarified. Both Madders and Jack offer us something distinct, so these are difficult choices.

“As staff, we’ve gone over it numerous times in an effort to be fair. Although we support our choices, we acknowledge that there was another option. These lads are fantastic to work with and have big personalities.”

Grealish has played in just two of the last six England matches, despite having made 36 appearances overall. The attacking alternatives Southgate had available to him, which included Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon, Eberechi Eze, Jarrod Bowen, and Bukayo Saka, were all of very high calibre.

Madison wished the team luck at the Euros after expressing his unhappiness at not being selected for the squad on X. “Devastated doesn’t quite cut it,” he acknowledged. I trained hard and put in a lot of work throughout the week, but to be honest with myself, I probably wasn’t performing at the levels I had planned to when I returned from injury for Spurs in the second half of the season, which left Gareth with a choice.

“Even though I feel I provide something unique to the team and have been a fixture throughout this entire Euro 2024 qualifying campaign in Germany, I still felt there would be room for me in a 26-man squad, but I have to accept the manager’s decision.

“I have no doubt that I will return. I’m wishing the boys in Germany the best of luck possible. They are an amazing group of guys that I can honestly say are some of my closest friends. Sincerely, I hope football returns home.”

This was the opinion of a player that was left off of the final roster along with Jarrad Branthwaite, Curtis Jones, James Trafford, Jarell Quansah, and Harry Maguire.