With the enviable talent pool that England interim boss Lee Carsley has at his disposal, it is a massive challenge for any player to nail down a starting spot.
Alongside the likes of France and Spain, it could be argued that the Three Lions have the best players in the world within their ranks.
From Manchester City’s perspective, they would be proud to have seen John Stones and Kyle Walker becoming staple members of England’s starting line-ups over the past few years.
Phil Foden, since Euro 2024 also seems to have cemented his place as a starter for his nation.
But with Carsley’s appointment as England’s interim manager, it is unlikely that he would place much emphasis on the past and instead, pick the players that impress him in the present.
Jack Grealish is a player who is yet to establish himself as a definite starter for his national team.
However, the £100 million man has always had tough competition to beat in the left-wing position.
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Scott Minto makes bold Jack Grealish claim for England
At Euro 2020, Raheem Sterling was the Englishman’s direct competition; a player who went on to have a campaign to remember.
During the 2022 World Cup, Sterling and Foden were utilised by Gareth Southgate as his trusted left-wingers — which meant Grealish was restricted to substitute appearances.
The 28-year-old was not picked by Southgate for Euro 2024 — which has indicated that he never fully earned the former Middlesborough boss’ trust.
However, the former Aston Villa boss will be hoping that as long as Lee Carsley is in charge, he opts for him as a starter.
Carsley lauded Grealish’s display as a number 10 as he scored in the Three Lions’ 2-0 win against the Republic of Ireland.
However, Grealish admitted he is not fully fit after he scored in England’s latest victory.
Matty Cash once hailed Grealish as “incredible” and on the basis of his latest showing where he was one of his nation’s best players, it is easy to claim why the Polish international made such a claim.
But Scott Minto feels that for the three-time Premier League winner to cement his place as England’s starting attacking midfielder, he will have to become much more impactful in the final third.
The pundit said on talkSPORT: “Does Jack Grealish play as a number 10? I don’t think he will. As much as I really want Jack to do well, first and foremost for Manchester City and then be a regular for the England side, I looked at that first goal and I watched it a couple of times in the replays and Declan Rice runs past him to get in that position.”
“I want my number 10 to get into a position to score goals.”
“Listen, you want to see a team game but in terms of, on trial, who’s on trial here, Jack Grealish as a number 10, absolutely one of them. And I kind of want to be sitting here now saying, ‘2-0 England, 2-0 Grealish.’ And for me, it’s just a little, it’s a very slight nitpick because Jack played well.”
“He did play well and he did do well but again, I don’t see him when everyone else is coming back, him playing in that position, it’s going to be fascinating to see if he does. And then do you not play [Jude] Bellingham and do you not play [Phil] Foden in those positions?”
“But I want him to almost like, do you know what, I’m going to grasp this, I’m not only going to score one goal, I’m going to score two, I’m going to be the best player on the pitch. I’m going to be the Man of the Match.”
Minto continued: “He’s admitted he’s not 100% fit, so I’m perhaps asking too much of him. But I also know what he’s capable of. And that mentality is either there or it’s not, whether you’re a 100% fit or not.”
“So, I don’t want it to look like I’m being completely negative. But I want him to be running past Declan Rice because Declan Rice is the holder stroke [number] eight and he’s the number 10 and he’s sniffing a bit of danger here.”
The Jack Grealish criticism is strange in this instance
If Scott Minto had criticised Grealish for not making a late run inside the box for Declan Rice’s goal, his observation could have been fair he was outside the box.
But the decorated attacker was in far too deep an area to penetrate the box and score a goal.
The Arsenal midfielder was in the right place at the right time and took his goal brilliantly.
While Grealish’s off-the-ball movement is perhaps an area of his game that he could improve as well as his goalscoring record, in his free role, he often took up deep areas on Saturday.
As a result, it would also be inaccurate to merely claim the Manchester City technician operated as a traditional attacking midfielder.
With that being the case, Grealish was nowhere near the area from where Rice took his goal, who was bombing forward into the box.
Scott Minto admitted he was nitpicking and it is difficult to disagree with him, especially as the versatile forward went to to score in the same half of the contest.
