Former England midfielder Darren Anderton has revealed what he has heard about Jack Grealish and the current dressing room at Euro 2024.
Grealish was left out of England‘s final 26-man squad for the tournament by Gareth Southgate – a decision which was met with surprise in some quarters.
There were contrasting reports about the internal reaction to Grealish‘s exclusion, while the player himself is yet to comment.
He did, however, post a video of himself back on a training pitch in preparation for the start of Manchester City‘s pre-season, which gets underway next month.
Explaining why he decided to leave Grealish – who starred at Euro 2020 – out of the squad, Southgate explained: “The fact is we’ve got some players who have been playing extremely well all season in the league, and we just feel other players have had stronger seasons – particularly in the past six months.
“In the attacking area of the pitch we’re blessed with a lot of options, and they’re slightly different.
“James [Maddison] and Jack would have provided us with something different as well and they’re tough calls … the boys are big characters, fabulous team-mates and great boys to work with.”
Now, Anderton, who played for the England side that reached the semi-finals of Euro 1996 under Terry Venables and featured in the 1998 World Cup, has revealed what he has heard about the dressing room reaction to Grealish’s exclusion.
Speaking to SPORTbible via whatbonuscode.co.uk, he said: “Grealish seems like a player they all love over.
“We had Gazza, and we all loved Gazza. We were all absolutely gutted for Gazza not to go to the France ’98 World Cup, but the squad was still absolutely fine without his character because it was a good group of boys [England reached the last 16 but were knocked out by Argentina on penalties].
“I think that’s the one thing Gareth has done – he’s made it feel like a club, as opposed to an international group with plenty of egos that don’t mix very well like you used to have with the Liverpool and United boys. I think Gareth has done that, and I don’t think that’s a problem.
“I think Grealish, around the squad, just from what I’m hearing, a lot of the boys were really disappointed that he wasn’t a part of it. But I don’t think that affects performances to be honest.”