England manager Gareth Southgate has refused to discuss Jack Grealish's wild celebrations at winning the treble and says he is not planning to use his five Manchester City players for Friday's Euro 2024 qualifier against Malta.
Since last Saturday's win over Inter Milan in the Champions League final, Grealish has been pictured in varying states of drunkenness during what appeared to be a three-day bender, including a flying visit to Ibiza and City's ecstatic trophy parade.
Grealish, John Stones, Kalvin Phillips, Kyle Walker and Phil Foden all reported to St. George's Park on Tuesday evening and Southgate confirmed that he did not plan to use them in the Euro 2024 qualifier at Ta' Quali National Stadium.
Repeatedly asked about Grealish's behaviour, Southgate acknowledged only that there was a line between deserved celebrations and maintaining professionalism ahead of an international fixture, but did not condemn the 27-year-old.
“There is [a line]," Southgate said. “But we weren’t thinking of including the City players for [the Malta] game.
“We needed to give those guys the time to take everything in. But point number one, they all wanted to come in to be with the group, which is fantastic.
“They need to recover, they need to sleep, they need to eat well and we want to get them ready. I’ve seen enough to know what could help us tomorrow and then Monday['s game against North Macedonia] is a few days further on. We’ll have to see what we come out of this game with as much as anything else, really.”
Asked if Grealish's behaviour was particularly striking today, when fewer players drink, Southgate said: “A few of our players would be teetotal.
“What is different is that everyone posts everything. I wouldn’t have liked a few of my nights out to be posted publicly. My generation would have been in a lot more problems.”
Pushed on whether he was comfortable with Grealish's celebrations, Southgate added: “There is nothing to be served with me discussing that publicly.
“I have got a good squad to pick from. We weren’t considering those [City] boys to start this game.
“We were hopeful they could play some part and that is still the case. But with the tactical preparation that we knew we needed to do earlier in the week, we always knew they were going to report Tuesday night, Wednesday was going to be light and Thursday the usual light session.
“So unless we had a problem, we were not aiming to put those players into this game.”
England right-back Kieran Trippier added: “They just won the treble, it may not happen ever again.
“All of them have rightly celebrated and come back to England and we all know what the goal is together. But they are back and have trained, and trained well and they are ready for the game and Monday.”
