Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has said that no one from within Villa Park will put any undue pressure on Jack Grealish to decide his international future.
Grealish, who was named in Noel King's Ireland u-21 panel earlier in the week, is set to start his club's Carling Cup clash against Leyton Orient on Wednesday amid an ongoing tussle between Ireland and England.
The Birmingham born midfielder has so far chosen to represent Ireland at underage level despite invitations from the English set-up. However, now that Grealish has broken into the Villa first team, the clamour to induct him into the English system has grown.
And while Lambert was effusive in his praise of the 18 year old, he was keen to stress that the final decision as to where Grealish's international future lies is down to the midfielder himself.
If he was Scottish I'd make sure to get him up to Scotland. I don't make rules or get involved so I'll leave it up to the lad himself, whatever he chooses I'll back it. He has to try to hang on to my squad in the first team.
It's up to Jack what to do and to decide what country. He's done okay but has miles to go in the game. It is a great problem for him to have. I could be sitting here talking to you and saying I am releasing him. So I would rather have this kind of problem.
Having proven his abilities with a loan spell Notts County last year, Grelaish returned to Villa and has since made two promising appearances in the Premier League. Despite Lambert's obvious belief in his abilities, the Villa boss was nonetheless eager to point out that the young midfielder is still some way away from being the finished article.
It will be a long road to be a right top player, but at this minute in time he is doing alright. He's grown up in League One. That's a big thing, he's grown up in a man's environment.
