Jack Grealish's misses out on England call-up as Aston Villa duo named in squad
Tyrone Mings and Tom Heaton have both been named in the England squad for this month’s Euro 2020 qualifiers - but there is no place for Villa skipper Jack Grealish.
Grealish was being considered for a possible call-up but Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate could ultimately opted not to select him in an initial 27-man squad for matches against Montenegro and Kosovo.
Mings and Heaton are once again included. The former made his debut in last month’s 6-0 win in Bulgaria, impressing both on and off the pitch during a match in which he and team-mates were subjected to racist abuse.
Southgate has recalled Liverpool forward Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Chelsea Callum Hudson-Odoi.
The boss has not ruled out Grealish, who he claimed was “very close” to making the squad, receiving a call-up should any of those players selected ahead of him suffer injury this weekend.
Southgate said: “He's a very good player (Jack Grealish) and I've watched him closely this season. He played very well against Brighton.
“The reality of that is that he's up against (Raheem) Sterling, (Marcus) Rashford, (Jadon) Sancho and (Callum) Hudson-Odoi in those wide areas.”
“I know he can play as a number eight but that's not where Villa have played him in the last six or seven weeks. The competition in that area is really high level, they are all good players.
“I think Jack is a very good player, I've worked with him with the under 21s so I know all about him. He's very close, he's just got to keep on playing the way he is, and if we had issues over the weekend I wouldn't hesitate to call him into the squad.”
