Gareth Southgate made a big call when he decided to cut Manchester City winger Jack Grealish from the England squad for the 2024 European Championship.
Instead of including the Grealish, who has won three Premier League titles in three years at City, Southgate included the likes of Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer, who have never played in a major international competition before, in the squad.
With two games played, the Three Lions have won one and drawn one, although criticism of the performances has been rife in the media.
Even though some time has passed since the news of Grealish’s omission was announced, one pundit has shared an interesting claim as to why Southgate chose to bring Gordon and Palmer ahead of the City attacker.
Paul Merson shares why thinks Gareth Southgate didn’t pick Jack Grealish for the England squad
Appearing in a recent edition of Football’s Greatest alongside Jeff Stelling, Merson had this to say when asked if he thinks Gordon and Palmer are starting to wonder why they haven’t made an appearance for England at the Euros yet.
He said: “That’s why they’re there and Jack Grealish is not there. Because Jack would be, I imagine Jack would be going mad now.
“I can’t imagine Gordon and Palmer saying anything. I just imagine them sitting there, just saying to him maybe we should be getting on. I don’t see them saying anything to him.
“I could see a Jack Grealish going to Gareth and going, ‘Why am I not playing?’ You know what I mean? I think that’s the problem.”
Southgate may have given himself an easy ride by not picking Grealish
Going off what Merson said, it could be a case of Southgate choosing to have Gordon and Palmer in the squad because they would be less likely to kick up a fuss if they don’t play due to the lack of experience they have in the England team.
However, there is a case to be made that because Gordon scored 11 goals and delivered 10 assists in 35 Premier League appearances last season and Palmer scored 22 and provided the same number of assists in 34 matches across the campaign, they’re in the squad because of their form.
Then with Grealish only starting 10 of the 20 league games he appeared in and only found the back of the net three times with one assist delivered, this may have overshadowed the experience he could have offered the Three Lions.
In fact, Kyle Walker said that while he was surprised his City teammate was left out, he recognises how important form is when putting a squad together for an international tournament.
In our view, it does seem odd that Southgate brought Gordon and Palmer but hasn’t given either of them any minutes in the tournament when England could have possibly benefited more from what Grealish would have been able to offer.