World Cup 2026: Should Jack Grealish make the England squad?

Another Fifa World Cup draws closer and it is yet another tournament in which England supporters will have high hopes for. Thomas Tuchel is set to name his final squad of 2025 at the end of this week and it may give us an indication as to who will be on the plane next summer.

There will be some places up for grabs, though, and someone who will be hoping to take one is Jack Grealish, who is trying to revitalise his career at Everton this season.

Grealish was a £100m signing four years ago for Manchester City. It took him a while to earn Pep Guardiola's trust but he soon became a prominent figure, playing a starring role in City's historic treble season of 2022/23. The attacker provided five goals and 11 assists across all competitions in that campaign.

That was followed by a couple of disappointing seasons in sky blue as Grealish found himself back among the fringe players - and so when this summer rolled around, it was the universal opinion that he simply needed to resurrect his career elsewhere, particularly with a World Cup fast-approaching.

The 30-year-old made the decision to join Everton on loan and work with David Moyes. And so far we have been seeing a Grealish that we remember seeing at Aston Villa - one with the freedom to go wherever he thinks is best to hurt teams.

In nine Premier League appearances for the Toffees in 2025/26, the attacker has one goal and four assists - as many as any in the division. While these first few months have been impressive, it is likely going to take more for him to grab the attention of Tuchel, who has a lot of interesting attacking players to consider ahead of the World Cup.

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The German coach is yet to pick Grealish for the Three Lions since taking the job at the start of the year. The players he currently favours for roles on the left side of the attack are Marcus Rashford, Ebereche Eze and Anthony Gordon.

Rashford is performing well on loan at Barcelona at the moment, while Eze is working towards translating his Crystal Palace form to new club Arsenal, but I will say that Grealish would currently be more deserving of a spot on the plane than Gordon.

The Newcastle attacker started well when moving to Tyneside but his form has dropped off greatly in the past 18 months and so I think he will also have his work cut out for him to guarantee a place at the World Cup next year.

He may have had a decent start in the Uefa Champions League this term with four goals in three games, but he is yet to register a single goal involvement in seven Premier League appearances.

England World Cup 2026 Squad Odds

Of course, Grealish isn't a natural winger like the Newcastle man and doesn't have the pace to play the role in the way that Tuchel would perhaps like, but his ball-carrying abilities are undeniable and one thing he can provide England is free-kicks.

Grealish is one of the best players in the world for drawing fouls and a player with such a talent could be of great use at the World Cup, especially with the players the Three Lions have that can profit from such situations.

His start to this season has been impressive and if he can maintain that for the remainder of the campaign, 11/10 could be decent value for him to represent England next summer.

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