Thomas Tuchel has explained why Jack Grealish has been left out of his first England squad
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Marcus Rashford
Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford is back in the England squad
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Thomas Tuchel has expressed his admiration for Jack Grealish, lauding his personality, courage and quality, but the Man City star did not make it into England's squad mainly due to a lack of match rhythm, not for any off-field claims.
The 29 year old, who came through at Aston Villa before making a £100million transfer to the Etihad Stadium, was notably absent from the list for March's World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia, which hardly came as a shocker considering his limited action on the pitch in recent times.
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It's been three months since Grealish last started a Premier League game for City, seeing him tumble down the pecking order partly due to injury woes.
"I love Jack," declared the England manager Tuchel. "As a headline, I love Jack. I love everything about him. I love his personality, I love his quality.
"The guy has courage, he can take the heat, he's not afraid of the Bernabeu whistles when he's on the ball, it does not affect him and if it affects him only in the best way.
"So, is he a player that should be available and can have an impact in our squad? Yes, 100 per cent.
"But lately, he simply has no rhythm and he himself – and I agree 100 per cent with this – said 'listen, Thomas, I'm not a start-stop player – it is so hard for me to influence a match from the bench and then be on the bench again, and then two weeks later I start again'.
"I'm not judging anyone, not at all, but it's just a characteristic of Jack. He gets better with every minute. The more he plays, the better he gets and then he becomes a proper machine.
"And he has, of course, a character to him that he can be the glue also in the team. It's very easy for youngsters – for experience players – to be attached to him and to be close to him. But this comes also with responsibility off the pitch."
Grealish may not be making headlines on the field, but he continues to do so off it.
Pictures recently emerged of him apparently visiting venues in the north-east, where he reportedly bought drinks for locals at a social club – an incident City boss Pep Guardiola downplayed, as did England boss Tuchel.
“Of course, it’s not ideal if he’s in the newspapers and out there in public,” he said. “But it’s maybe also not only his fault. You’re happy to write about it, you’re happy to bring it out in public.
“Everyone, not only you guys, has a phone in his pocket. The guys are famous and they are public figures. I think this will just… this can happen. It’s not ideal, we want to have him more calm. No-one wants to have it, but this was not the reason for not picking him.
“It was sporting and on his position Anthony Gordon has just more rhythm, more minutes, more intensity and Marcus (Rashford came in), so these were the two picks ahead of him.”
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