AS WE ALL know, Jack Grealish has finally chosen to try to represent England over Ireland and Roy Hodgson today spoke about the Aston Villa youngster in a press conference ahead of their upcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers against Estonia (home) and Lithuania (away).
According to the Three Lions manager, Grealish made the right decision.
“Frankly, he is English,” he said, “having met him and his father it is an English family, albeit with fairly distant Irish roots.”
“I was happy that, in a choice between the two countries, he took the bolder decision in some ways to try to be an England international and we’re very happy about that.”
England have already qualified for next summer’s European Championships in France, but Hodgson was keen to point out that it will take time for Grealish to earn his way into the national setup.
“What matters now of course is how he does for Aston Villa. He’s got to play well enough now to make sure he gets into the England squad but he’s aware of that, I made it very clear to him.”
He added that “there are no guarantees from my position and I can’t say it’s an easy task to get into the current England team.”
“If you make the decision it’s something you want to do. I left it with him and I was very pleased to hear he’s plugged for us.”
