New Delhi, Jul 30 (IANS): When former England manager Gareth Southgate announced his squad for the 2024 Euros in Germany, many people questioned his choice on the left flank as he had left out both Jack Grealish and Marcus Rashford. Southgate instead chose Anthony Gordon, who played for just one minute in the tournament that ended a few weeks back.

In an interview, Grealish has opened up on how not being in the squad was perhaps the ‘most difficult thing he has ever faced in his career’

“I’ll be honest it was probably, football-wise, the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my career. I was absolutely heartbroken and then obviously when you’re on your holidays, wherever I was, every time you turn on the phone or turn on the TV or whatever, you just see it. So it was hard not to see it,” said Grealish to The Athletic.

Grealis joined Manchester City in 2021 for a massive fee of 100m British Pounds after being the star player for Aston Villa. He has gone on to make 125 appearances for the club while racking up a menial 14 goals and 18 assists which has seen many people question his price tag over the years.

“In my first season at City, I don’t think I performed as well as I could and in the second season I played in a lot of the games and that was down to the first season. I had wanted to come back stronger and I certainly did that, so hopefully I can do that again,” he added.

Grealish is now more motivated than ever to turn his career around starting this season, Manchester City will be playing against FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC in their remaining pre-season friendlies before getting set to face local rivals Manchester United in the Community Shield Cup match on August 10.

“This is my chance to get my fitness, to have a two-week head start and try to be as fit as possible. And I’m playing with confidence. I feel like that’s what I need, and fingers crossed I can do that,” concluded Jack.