Wayne Rooney believes Jack Grealish should have made the England squad for Euro 2024 and has named the player he’d have left at home instead of the Man City man
Grealish was one of the shock omissions as Gareth Southgate confirmed his final 26-man squad for the tournament last week.
The 28-year-old endured a difficult campaign with City, seeing himself fall out of Pep Guardiola’s starting XI.
The likes of Cole Palmer, Eberechi Eze and Jarrod Bowen were included instead of Grealish after more impressive campaigns.
However, Rooney thinks Southgate should have found space for the attacking midfielder and named the man he should have replaced.
Wayne Rooney has named the player he would have dropped instead of Jack Grealish
Grealish was left out of Gareth Southgate’s final 26-man squad for the Euros last week
Rooney said on The Overlap: ‘Grealish, I would have taken him. Bowen on the right, they have Saka, Cole Palmer, Foden could play out there. I would have taken Grealish instead of Bowen.’
Bowen contributed 20 goals and 10 assists in all competitions for West Ham last season
Meanwhile, Grealish managed just three goals and three assists last season.
Speaking on the players who were left out, Southgate said: ‘all the players took the news really respectfully. Of course, all players will think they should be in and that’s why they are top players.
Southgate says he rewarded players who played well throughout the last season
‘They have that self-belief and mindset, but the fact is we have some players who have been playing extremely well in the league all season.
‘We just felt other players had stronger seasons particularly in the last six months or so.’
