Danny Murphy has warned Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish to behave himself or risk losing his place in the England squad.
The 25-year-old was today banned from driving for nine months and fined a total of £82,499 after crashing his Range Rover during March’s coronavirus lockdown.
Getty Images – Getty
He also pleaded guilty to a separate offence of careless driving after prosecutors said an unmarked police car spotted him driving at more than 90mph along the M42 at ‘close to an intimidating distance’ on October 18.
The early years of Grealish’s career was dominated by front-page headlines, from a picture of him sprawled on a pavement in Tenerife aged 19 to images of the Englishman inhaling ‘laughing gas’ at parties.
However, in recent years, the Villa talisman has let his football do the talking, first helping his boyhood club back to the Premier League and then becoming one of the top-flight’s best players.
In fact, his exceptional form finally earned him an England call-up earlier this year, which many felt was overdue.
Some have speculated that the reason why it took so long for Gareth Southgate to select Grealish was due to concerns over his behaviour, and the England boss has often talked about building a squad of role models to inspire the country.
Following his latest controversy, Grealish has been told by former Liverpool midfielder Murphy that more bad behaviour could put his England place under threat.
“I think there’s definitely room for improvement, to say the least!” Murphy told talkSPORT.
Getty Images – Getty
“Every time you mess up, it goes in a little book in his [Southgate’s] head.
“I don’t think he’s someone who puts up with nonsense more than once.
“There has been more than one thing, if you’re a player and you repeat offend, you’re not going to play.
“If there’s two players and you need to pick one of them, one behaves and the other doesn’t, you know who he’s going with.”