Antonio Rudiger has admitted he saw enough from Jack Grealish during his 18-minute cameo in England’s recent 1-1 draw with Germany to predict the Manchester City winger will have a huge role for his country in the 2022 World Cup.
Grealish, who recently admitted he feels more free with England than he does with City, came off the bench against Germany to devastating effect, playing a major role as England clawed a point back despite being second-best for much of the game.
His performance clearly left an impact on Rudiger, who pointed out the role Grealish can play off the bench for England at the World Cup.
“Grealish gave the team a real impact,” Rudiger said. “He is a very dangerous player and those sort of players are going to win you games.
“The England squad has great quality. [Bukayo] Saka comes out, Grealish comes in. I saw a lot of big, big names were on the bench. England have a lot to be optimistic about for the future.”
Rudiger continued: “Players like [Marcus] Rashford and [Jadon] Sancho didn’t even make the squad,. You have a lot of depth and you have big players like Harry Kane, [Raheem] Sterling and Grealish.”
England boss Gareth Southgate has stressed his commitment to Grealish but recently urged the City winger to work on his defensive awareness if he wants to cement a place as a starter.
“At the start of the game the challenge for the wide players was to attack, defend and to try and score goals – high tactical level and you’ve got to be spot on – and that’s an area Jack can get better at,” the boss said. “What he did do was carry the ball as the game opened up with a little bit more space and opportunity.
“The impact both he and Jarrod Bowen had was really important in those attacking areas. There is a good challenge there among those players but we’ve got to keep pushing them.”
