Rodgers says England are lucky to have Grealish

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers has expressed his admiration for Jack Grealish, whose talent he feels England are “very fortunate” to be able to call upon.

Having been superb in Aston Villa’s remarkable 7-2 victory over Liverpool on October 4, Grealish subsequently impressed for England in the 3-0 friendly win against Wales four days later.

He was then an unused substitute for the two Nations

League games that followed, the 2-1 victory over Belgium and 1-0 loss to Denmark, something that has been questioned by pundits and supporters.

Giving his view on Grealish ahead of Leicester hosting Villa today, Rodgers said: “England have so many good players.

“But I think England are very fortunate to have Jack’s talent. I’ve seen the improvements in him as he’s grown as a young player. His personality on the field is absolutely fantastic. He’s a marvellous player.”

The thrashing of Premier League champions Liverpool made it nine points from a possible nine this season so far for Dean Smith’s Villa.

Leicester also had maximum points after three games before losing 3-0 to West Ham and Rodgers said: “The West Ham game was another lesson for us in the Premier League where if you are just off your level, you can lose. But over the course of the four games, there have been so many positives for us.

“We’ve shown lots of potential, but can we get that consistency into our game? That’s a big aim for us.”

Villa boss Smith has described his side’s 4-0 defeat last season to the Foxes as “a watershed moment”.

“We felt sorry for ourselves,” he said. “Then we went into lockdown and certainly provided a memorable return to form after that.”