Alan Pardew has claimed that Crystal Palace have a player who is better than Manchester winger Jack Grealish.
The 28-year-old ended his third season with the Citizens by winning his third Premier League title, helping the Manchester club become the first side to win four in a row.
Despite having an admitted disappointing individual campaign, the winger could be set to be included in England’s final squad for the upcoming European Championship in Germany.
Now though, one pundit and former top-flight manager has said that Palace have someone who is better than Grealish in one particular aspect of the game.
Alan Pardew says Crystal Palace star eclipses Jack Grealish in one particular attribute
Speaking on talkSPORT, Pardew had this to say on the subject of which players in England’s recent 3-0 friendly win over Bosnia-Herzegovina caught his eye.
He said: “In terms of the others, obviously, [Eberechi] Eze was terrific and he showed what he has been showing at Palace all year.
“He has that gift of being able to ghost past people that not many players have, with pace too. Grealish has it but not quite with the same dynamic pace that Eze has.
“So that was intriguing, he may well have played himself into that left side of the England team which is a bit of an issue for us.”
Eze vs Grealish
Looking back over Monday’s win over Bosnia, Eze started and completed 62 minutes on the left-hand side of the pitch.
Despite successfully completing three of the five dribbles the Palace star attempted, he failed to register even one key pass or shot at goal.
With 36 touches of the ball in total, Eze gave possession away nine times and only had a passing accuracy percentage of 77% after completing 17 of the 22 passes he attempted.
In comparison, with just 22 minutes under his belt after replacing Eze, Grealish not only provided the assist for England’s second goal of the game, he also completed all 15 passes he attempted and only had 14 fewer touches than the Palace star despite playing fewer than half the minutes he had before going off.
However, with Pardew mentioning how much more dynamic Eze is than Grealish in terms of getting past players, the 25-year-old ended the recent Premier League campaign with a higher percentage of successful take-ons than the City winger (49.3% vs 43.9%).
Taking all of that into account, we feel that Gareth Southgate could have another tough decision to make about who he decides to include in the England squad for the Euros.