Manchester City forward Jack Grealish has lost his place under Pep Guardiola and now faces a huge challenge to impress new England manager Thomas Tuchel.
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TOKYO, JAPAN - JULY 26: Thomas Tuchel the head coach / manager of Bayern Munich during the preseason friendly match between Manchester City and Bayern Muenchen at National Stadium on July 26, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
TOKYO, JAPAN - JULY 26: Thomas Tuchel the head coach / manager of Bayern Munich during the preseason friendly match between Manchester City and Bayern Muenchen at National Stadium on July 26, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
As the nation reels from the shock England recall for Jordan Henderson, there is notably no uproar for a former fan favourite: Jack Grealish.
Manchester City's £100m-man was left heartbroken after Gareth Southgate left him out of the Euro 2024 squad last summer and was left at home to upload videos of him training whenever England played.
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Grealish returned, vowing to win his place back for club and country. He had a mini-renaissance under Lee Carsley but injury saw him withdraw from the most recent camp and he hasn't been able to recover thanks to more poorly-timed injuries and form that has not been good enough.
Pep Guardiola has rued Grealish's fitness record and challenged him to do more than Savinho or Jeremy Doku, who he says are in the team on merit. Grealish hasn't started a Premier League game since December 21, with just two starts in City's last 21 league outings.
Of his measly four 2025 starts, three have come against lower-league opponents while the other - a reward against Real Madrid - was cut short after 30 minutes to sum up his issues.
So it should come as no surprise to anybody that Thomas Tuchel hasn't selected Grealish in his first England camp. His first justification for the controversial Henderson pick was that he is captaining Ajax and playing in Europe until this week. Even Kyle Walker, something of a surprise inclusion, is starting games at AC Milan.
"There are different categories to be picked. You can be picked on form, on availability, on responsibility, on leadership, on personality, you are maybe picked because someone gets injured - there are different reasons," said Tuchel, explaining his squad.
If Grealish doesn't fit into any of those categories, where does he fit? England manager press conferences are usually dominated with questions over why various players haven't been selected. Grealish wasn't mentioned once.
Instead, Grealish must read between the lines to see the challenge ahead of him regarding a fading international career.
"This journey starts with the first camp. We only have six camps. We only have 60 days [before the World Cup]," Tuchel said. "Everyone who is with us on this journey and in this first camp is a contender for the World Cup. Every player is part of this first step.
"At the same time, it's only the first step so the nomination is not the nomination for America. It is important to be in the first camp and if you are in the first camp, you are in the first step of the journey."
Grealish only has five more opportunities to impress Tuchel and get himself in contention for a World Cup 2026 place. Tuchel will have spoken to him in recent weeks, so that challenge won't come a surprise.
His first task is to regain his City spot before even thinking about World Cups.