Lee Carsley didn’t spring many surprises when announcing the final squad of his spell as England’s interim manager.
The big names of Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka are all there. Lille’s Angel Gomes will continue to make his case at the base of midfield and the familiar injury absentees predictability missed the cut.
However, Jack Grealish‘s inclusion did raise some eyebrows. The Manchester City forward has been in excellent form during Carsley’s brief reign, scoring twice in three appearances for the temporary boss – as many goals as he managed across 36 caps for Gareth Southgate.
Rather than a question of quality, Grealish’s availability was a major doubt heading into November’s international break. due to fitness.
Grealish came off the bench for City’s first game after October’s international break, enjoying a front-row view of John Stones’ stoppage-time winner against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The mercurial forward then sustained a groin injury, forcing him to sit out City’s record-breaking thrashing of Sparta Prague in the Champions League three days later. Pep Guardiola was initially optimistic about Grealish’s recovery, predicting on 23 October: “Hopefully, Jack will be maybe one week, ten days.”
That muscular issue only got worse. After leaving Grealish out of City’s narrow Premier League victory over Southampton and a 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup, Guardiola claimed that there was “no chance to play the next games” for his number ten.
Grealish wasn’t available for the defeats to Bournemouth or Sporting CP, missing a total of five games over the last three weeks with no return date put forward by Guardiola or any Manchester City representative.
Carsley revealed his cautious optimism about Grealish’s availability. “We are fully in contact with the medical staff and we expect Jack to be fit,” the 50-year-old coach explained. “He’s trained in the last couple of days so he’ll come in, we’ll assess him and make sure he’s ready to play.
“I think he’s an important player not just for this camp but for the future. He’s a player who is great to coach and he’s an infectious character throughout the changing room, on and off the pitch.
“You can see he enjoys playing for England so he’s a player we wanted to give as long as we could.”
If Grealish is deemed to be fit enough for England‘s upcoming fixtures against Greece and the Republic of Ireland, then there should be every chance that he will be available for City’s trip to Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday.
