Manchester City forward Jack Grealish has done a retrospection on his 2023/2024 Premier League season and how he sat out of the Euros 2024 in the summer in Germany.

The 28-year-old says he was devastated by Gareth Southgate’s decision to leave him out of the Three Lions team that reached the final of Euro 2024 against Spain, where they lost 2-1. He said the decision to omit him was one of the most difficult things he has had to deal with in his career.

While he participated in the team’s warmup ahead of the tournament, even coming in as a substitute as England defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0 at St James’s Park, he never made the 26-man squad.

Grealish admitted he felt he should have been in the [England] squad as he felt like he had something to offer differently to players in the England squad. 

“I’ll be honest, football-wise, it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to deal with in terms of my career. I was absolutely heartbroken. For myself now, moving forward, I have to just try and use that as motivation going into this season. 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”, Grealish said.

Jack Grealish joined Manchester City from Aston Villa in the 2021/2022 season in a deal worth around £100M, which was the then-record fee for an English player. However, in his debut season, he only managed three goals and three assists in 26 matches.

The 2022/2023 season saw him play 28 games and score only five goals and seven assists. Last season, he was only able to contribute four goals (three goals and assists) in twenty goals, which a lot felt affected his chances of playing at Euro2024.