Jack Grealish’s father reveals why his son chose Ireland over England as a teen

Jack Grealish made the decision that was right for him, according to his father Kevin.

Kevin Grealish revealed some new details about his son's international past in an exclusive interview with Radio Kerry. The Aston Villa starlet's Dad clarified that his son spent a long time mulling over the decision, which was one he didn't take lightly. Jack ended up opting to declare for England, despite representing Ireland from U17 to U21. Kevin explained that England were also trying to recruit him at an early age, but he chose to play for Ireland because of his club mates.

"When his career started off, England were calling for him and Ireland were calling for him when was 14, 15. Some of the Villa teammates he was with, like Mickey Drennan and Samir Carruthers were all young Irish lads and they were all playing for Ireland." "He used to get home sickness while he was away on international duty but obviously Drennan and Carruthers were there and he just loved the set up. He just went with the flow. Obviously Jack's career took off, Drennan's back at Shamrock Rovers and Carruthers is at MK Dons, but it just kept escalating."

Although Jack will never play for Ireland at senior level, Kevin confessed he still has happy memories of his time in the Ireland set-up.

"At the start, he just played for Ireland because there were a good few Villa lads there. He had some great time. We still have the picture up in our house of him in is Ireland top when he was 17, and that will stay up there as long as we live there." "We had great times at Ireland, great times with the manager Noel King, but I think Jack just needed to make a decision and now he's made that decision."