The Manchester City star has 36 caps for his country and was involved at both Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup, but narrowly missed out on the squad in Germany this summer.
It was a close-run thing as the 28-year-old was involved in the pre-tournament friendlies and was named in the first, bigger squad, but did not make the final cut, with the likes of Anthony Gordon and Eberechi Eze getting the nod ahead of him.
Now back in pre-season preparations with his club, Grealish admits it was an extremely tough time for him in a footballing sense, but hopes to use it as motivation to avoid it happening again.
‘I’ll be honest, football-wise it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to deal with in terms of my own career,’ said Grealish on Manchester City’s pre-season trip to America.
‘I was absolutely heartbroken. I felt I should have been in the [England] squad. I’m sure every person that didn’t get picked would have thought the same.
‘I feel like I offer something different to players in the England squad. But it is what it is.
‘As I said, it was the hardest moment for me as a footballer. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my career.
‘For myself now moving forward, I have to just try and use that as motivation going into this season. Hopefully I can prove some people wrong.’
Gareth Southgate cut both Grealish and James Maddison from his final squad for Germany, explaining the decisions at the time by saying: ‘The fact is we’ve got some players who have been playing extremely well all season in the league and we just feel other players have had stronger seasons – particularly in the past six months or so.
‘In the attacking area of the pitch we’re blessed with a lot of options and they’re all slightly different.
‘[James Maddison] and Jack [Grealish] would have provided us with something different as well and they’ve been tough calls.
‘They’re calls we’ve gone over and over and over as a group of staff to try to be fair and to try to use the right rationale.
‘We back our decisions but we recognise we could have gone a different route. The boys are big characters, fabulous team-mates and great boys to work with.
‘It’s sad to have to deliver that news to them.’
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