Jack Grealish has admitted that he ‘runs more’ for England than he does for Aston Villa, as he told his press conference on Wednesday.
The boyhood Villa fan shared that he ‘spoke to staff’ at England and he seemingly compared his running stats on the club stage with that on the international scene – with the latter being higher.
Grealish only earned his debut England call last year and many felt the expert ball-carrier should have been selected a lot earlier.
But, after sitting down with Gareth Southgate ‘for an hour’ when he first joined up with the England camp, Grealish made it clear, it’s an area of his game he needs to improve.
“I think I can get better at it,” said Grealish. “I spoke to the staff here. When I come here, I seem to run more in games than I do at Villa.
“I am not sure why that is. But I still think I can improve on. I speak to the manager about these types of things.
“When I first came into the camp, that’s one of the things I said. I sat down with the manager for an hour or so and asked him what I can improve on to get into this side.
“And I went away and worked on that. So, I still think it’s one side of my game I can improve on.”
At Villa, Grealish has nothing to prove, so he can play a bit more like a luxury player, especially when in recent seasons, the likes of Dean Smith are trying to push him further up the field and stop him from dropping deep.
But with Southgate seemingly being uncertain with Grealish at the start, when he was eventually selected, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if there was an element of the player thinking he needs to prove himself a lot more.
And perhaps that’s why he is putting in more yards, but either way, he has now showcased to the world what he can produce in the Three Lions colours, and slowly but surely, those who were unsure about him can now see what Villa fans have been banging on about for years.
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