Thomas Tuchel loves Jack Grealish’s personality, courage and quality but did not include the Manchester City playmaker in his first England squad due to a lack of rhythm rather than reported late-night antics.
The 29-year-old was a high-profile omission for March’s World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia, albeit his absence was not a surprise given his lack of game-time of late.
Grealish has not made a Premier League start for City in three months and having fallen down the pecking order with the reigning champions, thanks in part to injury.
“I love Jack,” England boss Tuchel said of the attacking midfielder, who was left out of Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad. “As a headline, I love Jack. I love everything about him. I love his personality, I love his quality.
“The guy has courage, he can take the heat, he’s not afraid of the Bernabeu whistles when he’s on the ball, it does not affect him and if it affects him only in the best way.
“So, is he a player that should be available and can have an impact in our squad? Yes, 100 per cent.
“But lately, he simply has no rhythm and he himself – and I agree 100 per cent with this – said ‘listen, Thomas, I’m not a start-stop player – it is so hard for me to influence a match from the bench and then be on the bench again, and then two weeks later I start again’.
“I’m not judging anyone, not at all, but it’s just a characteristic of Jack. He gets better with every minutes. The more he plays, the better he gets and then he becomes a proper machine.
“And he has, of course, a character to him that he can be the glue also in the team. It’s very easy for youngsters – for experience players – to be attached to him and to be close to him. But this comes also with responsibility off the pitch.”
Grealish may not be making headlines on the field, but he continues to do so off it.
Pictures recently emerged of him apparently visiting several venues in the north-east, where he reportedly bought drinks for locals at a social club – an incident City boss Pep Guardiola downplayed, as did England boss Tuchel.
“Of course, it’s not ideal if he’s in the newspapers and out there in public,” he said. “But it’s maybe also not only his fault. You’re happy to write about it, you’re happy to bring it out in public.
“Everyone, not only you guys, has a phone in his pocket. The guys are famous and they are public figures. I think this will just… this can happen. It’s not ideal, we want to have him more calm.
“No-one wants to have it, but this was not the reason for not picking him.
“It was sporting and on his position Anthony Gordon has just more rhythm, more minutes, more intensity and Marcus (Rashford came in), so these were the two picks ahead of him.”
