By Tom Gott
A senior England player is reported to have approached England manager Gareth Southgate over the decision to leave Jack Grealish out of the squad for Euro 2024.
Grealish's frustrating campaign, which yielded just three goals and three assists in 36 appearances for Manchester City, culminated in him being cut from Southgate's final squad - a decision which came as a real surprise despite his struggles at club level.
According to The Telegraph, news of Grealish's exit from the camp caused plenty of surprise among those still in the squad.
One senior player is even said to have sought talks with Southgate to further understand the decision, with a view to explaining the call to the rest of the players.
Importantly, there is not believed to have been any clash or confrontation, with the surprised players simply keen to figure out why Southgate felt it was necessary to drop Grealish from the team.
Grealish leaves the England squad alongside James Maddison, Curtis Jones, Jarell Quansah, James Trafford, Jarrad Branthwaite and the injured Harry Maguire.
Explaining the omissions of both Grealish and Maddison, Southgate said: "The fact is we've got some players who have been playing extremely well all season in the league and we just feel other players have had stronger seasons - particularly in the past six months or so.
"We saw some fantastic performances the other night which underlined some of that and in the attacking area of the pitch we're blessed with a lot of options and they're all slightly different.
"[Maddison] and Jack would have provided us with something different as well and they've been tough calls. They're calls we've gone over and over and over as a group of staff to try to be fair and to try to use the right rationale.
"We back our decisions but we recognise we could have gone a different route. The boys are big characters, fabulous team-mates and great boys to work with.
"It's sad to have to deliver that news to them."
This article was originally published on 90min.com as England players question Jack Grealish's Euro 2024 omission - report.
