Jack Grealish left out of England squad as international transfer rules set to change

Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish has been left out the latest England squad by manager Gareth Southgate for the upcoming Nations League clashes with Iceland and Denmark. 

The 24-year-old had been expected to be in contention after his starring role helped Villa avoid relegation from the Premier League.

However, his wait for a first senior cap continues. 

Speaking about Grealish in the Birmingham Mail in November Southgate said "The reality of that is he's up against [Raheem] Sterling, [Marcus] Rashford, [Callum] Hudson-Odoi, [Jadon] Sancho in those wide areas. I know he can play as a No.8 but that's not where Villa have played him in the last six or seven weeks where they've been getting their results. Competition in that area is really high-level. They're all good players."

Southgate did provide maiden call ups to three players, Leeds United Midfielder Kalvin Phillips, Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood and Manchester City’s Phil Foden.

Coincidentally his continued snubbing comes at a time were FIFA is proposing changes to their eligibility rules for international football. 

Grealish played for the Republic of Ireland at various underage levels between 2011 and 2014.

Picking up the Under-17 Irish International Player of the Year award in 2012 and the Under-21 Irish International Player of the Year award in 2015. 

Under current FIFA rules, a player cannot change their international allegiance once they have played a competitive game for a particular country but these potential changes would see a player become eligible to switch their allegiance if they had played no more than three games for their first national side before the age of 21 and at least three years before their requested move.

A vote on this ruling will be held at the 70th FIFA congress which will be held as an online event from Zurich, Switzerland, on Friday, September 18^th.