England and Manchester City attacker Jack Grealish has claimed that becoming world or European champion with the Three Lions would be a greater achievement than last season's historic Citizens treble.
The 28-year-old formed an integral part of only the second club team in England to complete a domestic and continental treble, collecting winners' medals in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in 2022-23.
Following a disappointing first season at the Etihad, Grealish also improved on a personal level with five goals and 11 assists from 50 games in all tournaments, starting all but one of his side's Champions League contests.
The former Aston Villa winger only had one assist to show from 13 European fixtures, but he created a tournament-high 35 chances during Man City's journey to continental glory, 12 more than closest challenger Piotr Zielinski of Napoli.
Only the famed Manchester United troupe of 1999 have also completed that same treble in English football, but Grealish believes that winning Euro 2024 with his country would top last season's remarkable feats in sky blue.
© Reuters
"I don't mean this to sound weird but it is difficult in a way because you have such a high of winning the treble and then you do think 'what would ever top that?," Grealish told reporters in Thursday's press conference.
"Obviously doing something at international level definitely would. But then even at club-level you think 'what would top it?' Maybe to win all four including the Carabao Cup but we went out of that last week.
"You probably think about doing an 'Invincible' season but we got beat. To do what we did last year again would be unbelievable and to do something at international level with this group of players would be unbelievable.
"After the season that I had with City, it was an unbelievable season, one of the best of my career especially in the second half of the season when I was playing a lot more, playing with confidence."
Grealish has struggled to show his best form in the early stages of the 2023-24 campaign with just one assist from eight games, and he was an unused substitute in last weekend's 1-0 defeat to Arsenal.
© Reuters
However, the attacker did struggle with a hamstring injury in September, which forced him to miss England's clashes with Ukraine and Scotland last month as the Three Lions lost their 100% record in Euro 2024 qualifying.
Grealish was selected by Gareth Southgate for Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup, coming off the bench in the final of the former competition against Italy, but the Man City winger believes that the Three Lions are getting closer to snapping their 57-year streak without a major trophy since the 1966 World Cup.
"I think now we (England) have the perfect team, the perfect manager guiding us. We've come close on two occasions and I feel like we are just getting better and stronger," Grealish added.
"You look at the players we have in our team, there's quite a few that could play for any club in the world or any international team in the world. That would be the next on the list, hopefully."
Grealish could be in line for a 14th England start when the Three Lions meet Australia in Friday's friendly, as Southgate has hinted that he will deploy an experimental XI with next Tuesday's Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy in mind.
No Data Analysis info
