‘He would always be welcome’

From Back Page looked after him brilliantly and I think that counts for something at the end of it in his decision. ‘He might have other reasons but I can understand if England did come calling at senior level, it’s something you might have to think about.’ O’Neill had stressed that a player of Grealish’s calibre will always be well-received because of the impact he can have on the team. ‘Like a lot of things, there might be a bit of talk about it (his decision) for a day or two but I think it’ll blow over and I think if Jack made his mind up and wanted to come here, I think he would be pretty welcome at the end of the day. ‘If he’s going to improve the team and you thought over the next couple of years this is exactly what he could do, he could improve our chances of qualifying for a World Cup or something like this, then I think you’d be foolish not to.’ Grealish qualifies for Ireland via three of his four grandparents and the issue of which country he declares for became a hot topic in England after his star turn in Villa’s FA Cup semi-final win over Liverpool at Wembley last month. Grealish was also named man-ofthe-match in Villa’s victory against West Ham United last Saturday. O’Neill’s desire to call up Grealish came as a surprise after he had previously claimed the match against Scotland would be ‘too big’ for the youngster to handle. The manager admitted yesterday that Grealish’s progression since then had changed his mind.