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BOSS GARE TH NEEDS EVIDENCE OF GREALISH PLAYING AT TOP LEVEL

GARETH SOUTHGATE has claimed playing in the Championship is hindering Jack Grealish’s rise into England’s senior squad.

The Aston Villa star is on Three Lions boss Southgate’s radar.

But with Jadon Sancho lighting up the Bundesliga and Callum Hudson-Odoi and Declan Rice performing at a higher level in the Premier League, there is a feeling Grealish is beginning to slip behind.

Southgate said: “Jack worked with us in the Under-21s briefly. The difficulty is – although we can see the quality – that he’s at a different level and it’s hard to directly correlate what that is going to look like at a level above.

“With Callum, he’s playing in the Europa League, he’s playing in the Premier League.

“That does make a difference.

“I’m not going to say we won’t pick a player from the Championship because that could happen but it’s far more difficult to assess his level.You see certain parts of the game but not others. Not the physicality at times, nor the tactical discipline.

“That’s at another level in the Premier League, the speed, the pace.

“Jack’s a player we know all about and he’s a player we track.

“That last bit of evidence to give you the confidence to pick him, we haven’t seen.

“But I hope it’s not too long before we do see him.”