Southgate spells out England criteria to Championship star Grealish

Gareth Southgate has warned Jack Grealish he is unlikely to ever make his England debut as long as he continues playing in the Championship.

Grealish has been in sublime form since returning from a three-month lay-off at the start of March and is currently inspiring Aston Villa’s promotion push from the Championship.

The 23-year-old failed to make Southgate’s England squad for matches against Czech Republic and Montenegro and has not even been considered despite the fact seven players have withdrawn with injury.

Southgate has instead turned to the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi, even though the Chelsea teenager is yet to start a Premier League game.

Hudson-Odoi’s sparkling performances in the Europa League this season were deemed good enough by Southgate and the 18-year-old made his debut off the bench against Czech Republic on Friday.

However, Grealish’s international future does not look so bright unless Villa are promoted this season or he secures a Premier League move in the summer.

“Jack worked with us in the Under-21s briefly. The difficulty is always, although we can see the quality. When the evidence of the opponent is a different level, that’s where it’s hard to directly correlate what that is going to look like at a level above,” The Daily Telegraph quote Southgate as saying.

“With Callum [Hudson-Odoi], he’s playing Europa League, he’s playing Premier League, that does make a difference. I’m not going to say we won’t pick a player from the Championship because that could happen but it’s far more difficult to assess his level.

“You see certain parts of the game but not others. Not the physicality at time, nor the tactical discipline. That’s another level in the Premier League: the speed, the pace. So, he’s a player we know all about, he’s a player we track. But that last bit of evidence that could give you confidence to pick him at the moment we won’t see. But as an ex-Villa man I hope it’s not too long before we do see it.”

Grealish switched international allegiance from Ireland to England in 2015 but the Villa star has only ever played for England’s Under-21s.

Southgate has included Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland in his England squad but, unlike Grealish, the 26-year-old has shown his quality in the Premier League on a consistent basis in the past.

Villa’s win ratio in the Championship this season is 48% when Grealish has started compared to just 15.4% when he hasn’t featured from the off.

Grealish is the fourth highest WhoScored rated player in England’s second-tier this term (7.38) and has been fouled at least 30 more times than any other player (120).