Grealish thanks Lee Carsley for ‘bringing back the enjoyment’ to England duty

Jack Grealish has thanked Lee Carsley for 'bringing the fun back' to an England shirt following his expulsion from the Euro 2024 squad under Gareth Southgate.

Carsley steered the Three Lions back to promotion to the top tier of the Nations League after winning five of his six games in charge.

A second-half scoring blitz secured a comfortable 5-0 win at Wembley on Sunday evening, allowing the interim head coach to hand over the reins to Thomas Tuchel on a high.

Tuchel will officially take up his duties early next year, while Carsley will return to his previous role at the helm of the Under-21s.

Grealish paid tribute to Carsley, who called the Manchester City star into all three of his camps this season.

'What a guy and manager! Absolute legend and thank you for bringing the fun back to an England shirt,” Grealish wrote on Instagram.

The forward's comments come after he was a shock omission from Southgate's final 26-man squad for Euro 2024, with England set to lose to Spain in the final.

Grealish was brought in from the cold by Carsley in September and immediately repaid the faith by scoring in a 2-0 win over Ireland in Dublin.

A month later, the ex-Aston Villa star was adamant his omission in the summer was a mistake.

“I'll be honest, I didn't really agree with it,” Grealish said. 'I think you need a bit of balance in every position on the pitch.

'Look at some of the players in my position – like Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon or Jarrod Bowen – they've scored a lot of goals. But I know my game is not just about goals. I give so much more to the team than just goals.

'I still think I should have gone to the European Championships, but that was clearly not the intention.'

Grealish also admitted he found it difficult to watch England games from a distance, but said Carsley had made a point of embracing him since his appointment.

“I thank the manager here for giving me that opportunity and trusting me,” added Grealish, who became a father this week.

'It really means a lot. When I play under managers who show confidence in me and communicate with me like he has done in the last two camps, that really helps me.

'I don't want to go too much into what the biggest differences (between Southgate and Carsley) are, but since I've been here I've felt a lot of love from the manager.'