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Gareth Southgate was discussing a ruthless decision to drop a player from a Manchester club ahead of Euro 2024. The rise of other left wingers counted against him. “I feel players in the same area of the pitch have had better seasons, it’s as simple as that,” he said. Two weeks ago, actually, in that it was his explanation for the omission of Marcus Rashford from his 33-man training squad.
It was true up to a point. Jack Grealish was in it and his season was scarcely any more of a triumph than Rashford’s, even if Manchester City were found 31 points above their neighbours in the table. The reprieve lasted a fortnight. When the final cut came, when 33 were reduced to 26, Grealish was culled.
Each may deem himself unlucky in one respect: when England were short of compelling alternatives at left-back, holding midfield and central defence, they were elbowed out when four in-form upstarts forced their way into the squad: Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon, Eberechi Eze and Jarrod Bowen did not quite all come from nowhere but they amounted to a pincer movement, overwhelming the established order of Grealish and Rashford.
Listening to Southgate in March, after the friendlies against Brazil and Belgium, the obvious conclusion was that Gordon had risen dramatically in this thinking. Given his effusive praise for Eze after Monday’s win over Bosnia and Herzegovina as he went from an outsider for a place in the squad to a probable. In each case, a warning was administered: Rashford’s, in March, seemed unheeded; Grealish’s was more recent. He responded by linking up early with England and impressing in his cameo at St James’ Park. Yet it was not enough.
The surprise is that so many – his teammates apparently included – were surprised. The indications were that Grealish had become the fourth-choice left winger – after Phil Foden, Gordon and Eze – with Rashford presumably fifth. Southgate, a manager accused of being too loyal to his supposed favourites, has now been questioned for implementing a meritocracy.
One theory is that Grealish could have been an impact substitute, as he was when Germany were beaten in Euro 2020. Another argument, which may be proved, is that it amounts to too much of a risk to take four inexperienced alternatives, with a mere 16 caps between them. Certainly there is a case that Grealish, a bubbly character left “devastated” by his exclusion, would have been a good tourist. “I think the world of him,” Southgate said; if the Brummie can appear the class clown, his manager the prefect and Pep Guardiola the intellectual nerd, two coaches with more straitlaced personalities than Grealish both like him personally. His generous spirit is reflected in his charity and community work.
The problem instead rests with Grealish the footballer. His three seasons at City have been littered with trophies. On a personal level, however, only one – 2022-23 – ranks as a triumph. This year, he only had two brief bursts of form, in December and early April. He finished the campaign as an unused substitute, Jeremy Doku’s dynamism was preferred as the substitute sent on to try and change the FA Cup final.
If it suited City in their treble-winning season that Guardiola had made the maverick Grealish an altogether duller footballer, now it may not benefit anyone. Grealish knows his meagre tallies of goals and assists can be used against him. It is not the only measure of excellence. Yet Grealish scored only three goals and made only three more last season.
The equivalent figures for his rivals are very different: Palmer a ludicrous 27 goals and 15 assists, Gordon 11 and 10 respectively, Bowen 20 and 10, Eze 11 and six. Foden registered 27 goals and 13 assists; he displaced Grealish from City’s strongest side for many a match. And the importance of having a left winger with an end product is increased by the doubts about Luke Shaw’s fitness: in Euro 2020, he scored one goal and got three assists but if England end up with a right-footed left-back who offers little in the final third, they require an attacker who can make something happen. Grealish can commit defenders and lay off a pass or win free kicks but Foden has an ability to conjure a goal from nothing.
It leaves Grealish at a crossroads. Last summer brought a party for him, his epic celebrations of City’s treble lending themselves to suggestions he suffered from a hangover this season. This year, he misses the party. Perhaps he is simply unfortunate, overtaken by a surge of newcomers, a player Southgate would probably have quite liked to take to Euro 2024 but who, in the end, he concluded had a lesser case to go than others. But, out of the England squad and the City side, the £100m man could do with finding form next season. And, as his rivals have done, finding the path to goal.