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#3 He’s fully matured and would bring a cool head to the squad
Flashback a few years and the reputation that Grealish carried was very different to the one that we see today. A local Birmingham boy, Grealish burst onto the scene at Aston Villa in 2014/15 and immediately became a popular player with the fans – partially due to his skills on the pitch and partly due to his throwback image, with his slick hair, rolled-down socks and almost cocky attitude.
But that attitude appeared to be a disadvantage for him, and he soon found himself in hot water; April 2015 saw him pictured inhaling nitrous oxide – AKA laughing gas – for recreational purposes, and later that year he was forced to train with Villa’s under-21 team following an incident that saw him go clubbing following a loss to Everton.
The 2015/16 season saw Villa relegated to the EFL Championship, and after two somewhat disappointing seasons there it felt for a while like Grealish would become a poster-boy for wasted potential. Somewhere along the line though, something changed. Grealish apparently admitted to club legend Dion Dublin that he needed to “get his head right”, and 2018/19 saw the emergence of a new, mature player.
After an injury layoff, Grealish returned to action with Villa in March 2019 and immediately became their key man; named club captain by boss Dean Smith, his performances helped the Villains go on a run of 10 straight wins that essentially took them all the way to the Premier League.
Most notably, in a local derby with bitter rivals Birmingham City, Grealish showed his maturity by shrugging off a shocking attack by a rival fan to score the winner in a key 1-0 victory.
With some of his rivals for an England spot showing some wayward tendencies as of late – Leicester City’s James Maddison was infamously photographed in a casino following his withdrawal from the last England squad with an illness – Grealish would bring a calm and mature head to Southgate’s squad, something that few could’ve expected a few years ago. Essentially, there’s no better time for him to warrant a call-up.
