Jack Grealish declares for his ‘country of birth’

Aston Villa have confirmed midfielder Jack Grealish has opted to represent England rather than the Republic of Ireland.

There’s been some speculation that he’ll be named in the squad for the upcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers against Estonia and Lithuania, with the players due to be named on Thursday.

After no shortage of very public dithering, the Aston Villa midfielder, with the sprinkling of fairy dust in his boots, has finally let it be known that he will represent England.

Reports earlier this month indicated that Grealish had picked England over Ireland, while the youngster turned down an Ireland call-up back in May ahead of the games against the Three Lions and Scotland.

However, he has pledged to play for England after talks with manager Roy Hodgson, as well as Ireland boss Martin O’Neill.

“All he was anxious about was that qualifying campaign so he probably looked at Jack Grealish and thought “he can’t benefit me in my campaign”.

Hodgson has been pressurising the young player to make a decision, which has not gone down well with his Ireland counterpart.

Meanwhile, Tim Sherwood has revealed he wouldn’t sell Grealish for £60million.

Neither country have yet made a comment on the player’s decision.

“I spoke to his father, I spoke to Jack and he’s a young kid coming through with a lot of potential and I think they just want to take a little bit of time”.

However, Hodgson did not pick him to play against the Republic in June, with the England boss saying “it would have been inflammatory at the last minute if he chose us and played”.

Grealish has had a mixed start to the season for Villa, but Sherwood rates him so highly he claims that his valuation in the transfer market is £60m.