Jack Grealish: England call-up ‘feels like trial’ after late inclusion in Gareth Southgate’s squad
Jack Grealish’s debut England call-up ‘feels like a trial’ after his late inclusion in the squad, the Aston Villa captain told Sky Sports.
Grealish was added to Gareth Southgate’s squad for the Nations League double header with Iceland and Denmark, exclusively live on Sky Sports, only after the withdrawal of Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford last weekend,
with a call-up long-mooted for the Villa midfielder – but only finally arriving this month.
The 24-year-old told Sky Sports when he made the switch in international allegiance from Republic of Ireland to England back in 2015 he had not expected at the time it would be another five years before he would visit St George’s Park as a senior team member – but was determined to make the most of his opportunity now.
He said: „It’s more or less like a trial at the moment, coming in for the first time, and hopefully I can show [Southgate] what I can do in training.
„I’ve had Gareth as a manager before for the U21s and loved my time with him. It’s him as a manager. I’ve been here for two days and I can see what type of manager he is. He’s made time for everyone, been around to everyone speaking to all the lads and staff, and I can tell it’s a very tight-knit group here.
„He wants to build on that, lads to come away with England and enjoy it and want to play for their country which I know for a fact that everyone does.
„I’ve had a bit of an unusual career, I was 19 when I said that I would like to change from Ireland to England, and at the time I didn’t think it would take five years.
„I had a chat with my parents, with Roy Hodgson who was the manager at the time, but you know it didn’t happen for certain reasons. We ended up getting relegated that season, and I’ve been in the Championship for three years now so it’s just a relief it’s finally come and hopefully I can be here to stay.“
Grealish represented the Republic of Ireland at U17, U18 and U21 level before making the switch to represent England – but said he never once regretted the decision while waiting for his first inclusion in a senior squad.
„Since I was a kid, I’ve felt like I’m English,“ he said. „My family are English, it was just my grandparents who are Irish and when I was a young kid I was playing for Ireland because that’s what felt right.
„It felt fun, if anything. But then as I got older, I felt English, I felt like I could get into the England team, and get into the senior team, and now here I am.“
Call-up chat ’emotional’
Grealish had not been expecting to be joining the England set-up at all over the international week after being omitted from Southgate’s initial squad last Tuesday – but could not have been in much more appropriate setting for him to receive the call to tell him of his inclusion.
„I was over the moon, it’s a call I wasn’t really expecting,“ he said, „but when someone from Villa got hold of me to tell me Gareth wanted to speak to me, it was obviously a massive, massive moment for me, something I won’t forget.
„Sunday evening it was. I was just at home with my family, it was something I wasn’t really expecting, but I took it and it was obviously a call I don’t regret not answering!
„I was in the lounge at my house, my family were there, it was my little sister’s birthday. We were just about to go out for some food, so my dad, my mum and my two little sisters were all there. It was something I will never forget. Now that I’m finally here, I can’t wait to get started.
„It was emotional, to be honest. Everyone says the same thing when they get called up to the senior team for the first time, it was something I wanted to have done earlier on in my career, but it doesn’t always work out the way you plan it, and now I’m delighted it’s finally happened.
„I am so close with all my family and especially my little sister as well, it was her 17th birthday, and it made the whole day that extra little bit special.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
.
