This could be quite embarassing for the FA because they are going to be made to look bad in that they announced a replacement and within a week he says he doesn't want to play for England. A 1996 born player might be called up now or they may even go with George Cole I guess.
To be honest, I never expected Grealish to represent England; for someone who grew up playing Gaelic football, represented Ireland at youth football level, already has a nascent and proud Irish fanbase, and with have a name like Grealish, the odds were always going to be long for us. Good luck to him; he seems to be following his heart. If he had been representing England, and then all of a sudden changed, I'd probably feel different about the matter.
I know, it isn't good for our preparation for this tournament and if Grealish was in two-minds in the first place he should never have accepted the invitation to play in this tournament only to leave us one man short close to the beginning of the tournament. Wouldn't be surprised if it's a 1996 born player that gets a call as it's the Nordic's.
His choice, but if he's not 100% Irish and committed to them then it's a pretty naive choice. Ireland are in the same death spiral as Scotland and Wales, once the generation of Robbie Keane and Duff call it a day in the next cycle they'll be shagged.
I wouldn't say thats true. Their u19 side have now got to the SF of the European u19 Championships and they play Spain today. This has been done without Shane Duffy (Everton), Sean McGinty & Robbie Brady (both Man Utd) even playing. Players like Jeff Hendrick (Derby), Sean Murray (Watford), John O'Sullivan & Anthony O'Connor (both Blackburn) are the standout players. Even in their current 1st team they have good young players like Greg Cunningham (Man City), Ciaran Clark (Villa), James McCarthy (Wigan) and many others. A couple of our current youth players are eligible for them still and I hope we don't lose any to them. Players like Luke Williams, Will Keane, Pat Bamford & Jordan Graham.
That's a lot of average talent there, most of which seem to have commitment issues. When you look how competitive it is across Europe, they are definitely on the same slide as Scotland and Wales. In fact didn't Scotland U-19s do really well just recently? and Wales U21 as well? Doesn't always mean a lot.
It all depends on how he feels though, doesn't it. If I imagine a world in which I was a brilliant footballer, and was eligible to represent Spain or Brazil, I'd still choose England, irrespective of there being greater chances of glory with the those nations.
They already have players performing at Prem level in Coleman & Doyle and many others. Add a few good young players coming through...they will be extremely competitive. They already don't need Duff in their side and with Shane Long coming through in the striking department, there is a decent talent there. But at then end of the day...its not about individual talent but gelling as a team if you have players who are at a decent level. We all know this statement with our own players at senior level. Republic of Ireland are definitely no Scotland & Wales. Scotland are getting some good players like Graeme Dorrans & Charlie Adam and a few others though but lack a lot of quality in certain areas. Wales side is too young but filled with talent...they'e missing a generation before the current lot of Bale, Ramsey, Collison and Gunter and the likes.
Got a few questions? Is the FA international squad only announced after the Nordics? I was looking at last years Nordics squad...quite a fe players who were in the main u17 picture last year were in it. Adam Jackson Jake Caskey Max Clayton John Lundstram Matthias Fanimo Alex Henshall Adam Morgan Nathan Redmond even Ward-Prowse & Hutton were there. Also is Bradley Lewis considered Irish because Josh Webb seems to have jumped him and Lewis played for Ireland last year? The 1996 born players who played u16's last year were obviously part of the u16 trial camp last year. Players like Gunn, Clark, Loftus-Cheek and so on. But what about Smith-Brown & Bennett? They weren't picked last year so do we assume they were in the u16 trial squad last year as well and just weren't picked. Because what would they have been judged on if they weren't in the u16 trial squad last year? Just club form?
I understand smith-brown played alot for our under 16's side last season, it was a side that contained Facey, Hutton, Plummer, Evans, Glendon and Cole so with so many England players in that side there would have been alot of scouts at the games i guess.
i suppose it's whatever you identify with you know? if there's a strong family unit, which it sounds like there is, and he grew up doing the gaelic thing - certain Irish ties are there. again, he won't make or break an England side...so let him move on and we won't have to worry. just hope Graham sticks it out with England and our Reece Collier (or whatever his new name is) don't just use us as a vehicle for their own success.
It's usually announced not long after this one. Not many actually got chances in the Nordics last time. God knows why when players mentioned numerous times on here are still to be capped. Don't know but Webb got a start at U16 level whereas Lewis only came off the bench. So it's not really as if Lewis was ahead of him. Just the last to get a chance. I'm not certain but I think they might have different scouts at different levels. Selections are certainly random at times for the U17 Nordics so it's hard to say for sure.
Damn ,that is a very bad news.. jack grealish is certainly the best winger of his generation.....too bad he rejects a selection ,but if he ain't feel "english" enough it's better to let him go. With the loss of grealish i think the FA has understood how important is a under 15 team!
In my opinion the big difference between grealish and the others is his higher football IQ and technical abilities more suited for a possession football......definetly a big loss for england but no one (of the FA) is to blame , i think nothing could have been done to make him change is mind. ps:morrison ain't a winger....
I watched the 5-1 hammering of Man U last night in the Milk Cup and Rothwell confirmed his quality from my previous viewings of him.
I think grealish is a superior footballer to the likes of Graham and sterling. he has pace like they do but his technical ability is better. It is a horrible loss for england but if the kid is Irish then you cant argue with that. Bit of a golden generation at the under 17/16 level for ireland at the moment according to my irish mate so maybe Grealish just thought he had better potential for challenging for underage titles with Ireland.
I've only seen highlights of when Grealish played against Chelsea u18s but not enough to go on. He did look a "clever" type player all the same. Still he doesn't want to play for us so no use continuing to pine about it. Graham played in that game and also a couple of minutes in a reserve game and did well (in that brief time)- seemed more focused than in the VS games and did a couple of nice pieces of work. The only time I've seen Lewis Baker kicking the ball was the last 20 minutes when he came on as sub against MU in the Cup. He didn't see much of the ball (United were dominating). But he did seem to have tight control - and a couple of times turned in a full circle to avoid an opponent. Like a lot of Chelsea players of that age he didn't seem to take naturally to running after the ball and opposition players.