"He’s made no impact at all" - Tony Cascarino suggests 26-year-old isn't good enough to start for England
Tony Cascarino has suggested that Manchester City attacking midfielder Jack Grealish is not good enough to start for England.
Grealish was snapped up by the Cityzens last summer from Aston Villa in a club record £100 million deal.
However, his first season at the Etihad has not been up to the mark with the 26-year-old scoring six goals and providing four assists in 39 games across all competitions.
The former Aston Villa skipper earned his 20th cap for the Three Lions on Saturday night as he started for England in their 0-0 stalemate against Italy.
The winger came on from the bench in the two previous games in the UEFA Nations League where England lost 1-0 to Hungary and then drew 1-1 against Germany.
Tony Cascarino has claimed that Grealish has not improved since joining the Sky Blues last summer.
However, he has insisted that the attacking midfielder has the necessary quality to turn things around in the future. The former Chelsea striker told talkSPORT:
“Jack Grealish was carrying the ball way too often and there were too many little flicks."
England have gone three consecutive games without a win for the first time since September 2018.
◉ 0-1 vs. Hungary
◉ 1-1 vs. Germany
◉ 0-0 vs. Italy
And the only goal they scored was a Harry Kane penalty. 😬 https://t.co/M5XJSvMmAF
“He’s a talented lad, Jack – but I’m not sure if he’s a better player now than he was at Aston Villa. There have been games where I felt he’s made no impact at all. But, in his defence, it’s his first season at Manchester City and not everybody hits the ground running."
Cascarino has pointed out that Grealish should not be a guaranteed starter for the Three Lions after such an underwhelming season for Pep Guardiola's side. He added:
“Jack has taken time, we’ve not seen the performance levels of what he did at Villa on a regular basis. We’ve seen little moments, which is because he’s a talented boy and he’s got loads of ability. I don’t think anybody would question that. It’s whether he should be guaranteed a place in the [England] starting line-up. At the moment, I don’t think so.”
Gareth Southgate has plenty of options to choose from for his England side
Considering the amount of quality England have right now, Gareth Southgate could be spoilt for choice while naming his squad.
Jack Grealish just found out how strong Tammy Abraham is 😅 https://t.co/RSPdRCszW4
Players like Jordan Henderson, Tyrone Mings, Emile Smith Rowe and James Maddison missed out on the 27-man squad for the UEFA Nations League.
With so much competition for places, players like Jack Grealish need to perform soon or could soon find themselves out of Southgate's reckoning.