England manager Roy Hodgson has broken his silence on Jack Grealish's international future. Hodgson named his England squad to face Ireland on the 7th of June, and Hodgson took time out to discuss Aston Villa's 19-year old winger who faces an international dilemma.
Hodgson is adamant that he will leave the decision to Grealish and doesn't want to put any undue pressure on the youngster.
He could play for either country, which one's it going to be? As far as I'm concerned it's got to be Jack's decision and I don't think we should be putting undue influence on him.
Hodgson did however divulge that the Villa player has been on his radar for a while:
He’s a very talented player and has been on the radar for our Under-21 teams.
While Grealish rejected a call up from Martin O'Neill last week, there is no hint that Hodgson has approached him before or since. With a number of players unavailable to Hodgson due to their involvement with the England U21s, there was an opportunity for Grealish to be tested.
Instead, Hodgson has decided to try the uncapped trio of Jamie Vardy, Charlie Austin and Tom Heaton.
It remains to be seen if Hodgson's approach of not putting pressure on Grealish pays off or not. Forgive us if we hope it doesn't.
