JACK GREALISH’S place in England’s Euro 2024 squad appears to be in major doubt.
Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions kick off their summer with a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday.
Grealish, 28, could feature in the St James’ Park clash after cutting short his summer holiday to join up with the 33-man provisional squad.
But boss Southgate is giving no assurances to £100million Manchester City star Grealish, who played just ten minutes of their last five matches of the season and did not feature in the FA Cup final.
England are also sweating on the fitness of Harry Maguire who has a calf injury and may not be fit for the opening Euros match against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen on June 16.
Asked if Grealish could be axed from the final tournament squad, Southgate said: “I don’t think we’re defining that just yet.
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“It’s hard to be quite so specific because we keep sitting down and saying: ‘Okay, if it’s this or this’.
“We have a lot of good players in that area and they are all competing.
“We think we know who the best have been across the season, what we don’t know is how many we need to take or can allow ourselves to take because of the cover we might need in other positions.
“I haven’t talked to him specifically about the cup final. But he has been really bright and he loves being here.”
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Apart from Maguire, England will also be without Luke Shaw (thigh), Anthony Gordon (ankle) and Bukayo Saka (groin) on Monday.
Harry Kane is training after a back injury but will not start.
On Maguire’s fitness for the first game of the Euros, Southgate said: “We don’t know that at the moment.”
He also admitted he will be listening to his medical staff — not the players themselves — over whether they are fit.
Southgate added: “They are lying buggers! If you’re in a relegation battle, the treatment room is absolutely full. If you’re in a cup final it’s empty.”
Chelsea’s Cole Palmer is set to be given his first England cap. Marc Guehi will start in defence.
Jack Grealish’s Euro 2024 place in jeopardy
By Martin Blackburn and Charlie Wyett
JACK GREALISH is sweating on a Euro 2024 place after a nightmare end to the season.
The £100million star celebrated Manchester City’s four-in-a-row title success on a bus parade yesterday.
But now he is battling with Tottenham’s James Maddison to secure a spot in Gareth Southgate’s England squad.
Cole Palmer, Jarrod Bowen and Anthony Gordon all look certain to go after excellent seasons with their clubs — while Bukayo Saka is guaranteed a spot.
But Grealish, 28, has struggled and his lack of match action for his club will be a big concern for the Three Lions boss.
The former Aston Villa captain has featured in only one of City’s final five matches.
That was a ten-minute run out in the 5-1 win over Wolves this month.
He was not thrown on at Wembley as the below-par champs desperately searched for a way back in to Saturday’s 2-1 FA Cup Final defeat to rivals Manchester United.
City boss Pep Guardiola explained his decision afterwards by admitting the attacker has “struggled” this season.
He has challenged him to recapture the form from the back end of the 2022-23 season when he helped the club secure an historic Treble.
Guardiola said: “He will be back. He’s struggled this season — Jeremy Doku has made an incredible step forward as everyone has seen in the last games.
“But Jack will be back at the level of last season — I’m pretty sure.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
