FORMER IRELAND MANAGER Brian Kerr would be happy to see Jack Grealish fast-tracked to a senior international cap, describing the Aston Villa player as the “best attacking player” to play for the Irish underage teams since Damien Duff and Robbie Keane.
Kerr, who coached both Duff and Keane to success at the 1998 U16 European Championships also told TheScore.ie that Grealish’s swagger should not mask his ability to work for the greater good of the team.
“What I saw of him – I’ve seen him play twice at U21 level and I saw him come on as a sub in an Aston Villa game I was at against Arsenal – and I think I said on the radio that day that he was the best attacking player who is eligible for Ireland that I’ve seen since I saw Damien [Duff] or Robbie [Keane] when they were 16 and 17.
“Whether he develops into being as good as those players is one thing but the excitement he generates when he is on the ball, the U21 matches were out in Tallaght and there wasn’t too much excitement about them, but when he got the ball I kept asking myself ‘what’s he going to do next?’
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“He’s direct, he can run with the ball, he can beat a player. He has a bit of confidence about himself, a swagger, but he’s also a good team player, he works hard for the team and I like the look of him.”
Brian Kerr has worked with Robbie Keane and sees Grealish as as good an attacking threat. INPHO / Morgan Treacy
INPHO / Morgan Treacy / Morgan Treacy
Kerr did warn that Aston Villa’s current predicament and poor form may hamper Grealish’s development at club level but doesn’t think that should in any way impact on whether or not Martin O’Neill decides to make the call.
“I think he’s a bit unfortunate at Villa in the situation they’re in. He’s on the edge of the team but now they’ve had a run of five defeats in a row and from, the manager’s point of view, he might be saying to himself ‘he’s not the type of player who can turn it for us now.’
“But I think there’s a lot of potential there, I don’t see any harm in promoting him. He’s been the outstanding player at U21 when I’ve seen him.
“If it takes promoting him and putting him in the senior team now then so be it.”
Kerr has plenty of experience in dealing with situations like this having handed Aiden McGeady – who was also eligible to play for Scotland - his international debut.
“I did the same with Aiden McGeady when he was 18 years, one month and 28 days old when I put him on for a match against Jamaica for eight minutes.
“Less than a year later I brought him on in a friendly against Croatia and also a friendly against Portugal which were big matches, very big matches that we wanted to do well in and we won the two games.
“But we brought him on to give him a little bit of taste of it but also to cement the idea that he was an Irish player and that he wasn’t going to play for Scotland.
“He was quite comfortable with that and I spoke to his parents too but I knew we had to get this guy playing for Ireland and, when he came over, it wasn’t a difficult decision for him to play because he felt so comfortable.”
Brian Kerr was speaking at the launch of the ‘Gaza Kids to Ireland’ football initiative being organised by Gaza Action Ireland and Antrim to Gaza. For more information on the initiative click here.
'Jack Grealish is the best attacking prospect I've seen since Robbie and Damien' - Brian Kerr
FORMER IRELAND MANAGER Brian Kerr would be happy to see Jack Grealish fast-tracked to a senior international cap, describing the Aston Villa player as the “best attacking player” to play for the Irish underage teams since Damien Duff and Robbie Keane.
Kerr, who coached both Duff and Keane to success at the 1998 U16 European Championships also told TheScore.ie that Grealish’s swagger should not mask his ability to work for the greater good of the team.
“What I saw of him – I’ve seen him play twice at U21 level and I saw him come on as a sub in an Aston Villa game I was at against Arsenal – and I think I said on the radio that day that he was the best attacking player who is eligible for Ireland that I’ve seen since I saw Damien [Duff] or Robbie [Keane] when they were 16 and 17.
“Whether he develops into being as good as those players is one thing but the excitement he generates when he is on the ball, the U21 matches were out in Tallaght and there wasn’t too much excitement about them, but when he got the ball I kept asking myself ‘what’s he going to do next?’
“He’s direct, he can run with the ball, he can beat a player. He has a bit of confidence about himself, a swagger, but he’s also a good team player, he works hard for the team and I like the look of him.”
Kerr did warn that Aston Villa’s current predicament and poor form may hamper Grealish’s development at club level but doesn’t think that should in any way impact on whether or not Martin O’Neill decides to make the call.
“I think he’s a bit unfortunate at Villa in the situation they’re in. He’s on the edge of the team but now they’ve had a run of five defeats in a row and from, the manager’s point of view, he might be saying to himself ‘he’s not the type of player who can turn it for us now.’
“But I think there’s a lot of potential there, I don’t see any harm in promoting him. He’s been the outstanding player at U21 when I’ve seen him.
Kerr has plenty of experience in dealing with situations like this having handed Aiden McGeady – who was also eligible to play for Scotland - his international debut.
“I did the same with Aiden McGeady when he was 18 years, one month and 28 days old when I put him on for a match against Jamaica for eight minutes.
“Less than a year later I brought him on in a friendly against Croatia and also a friendly against Portugal which were big matches, very big matches that we wanted to do well in and we won the two games.
“But we brought him on to give him a little bit of taste of it but also to cement the idea that he was an Irish player and that he wasn’t going to play for Scotland.
“He was quite comfortable with that and I spoke to his parents too but I knew we had to get this guy playing for Ireland and, when he came over, it wasn’t a difficult decision for him to play because he felt so comfortable.”
Brian Kerr was speaking at the launch of the ‘Gaza Kids to Ireland’ football initiative being organised by Gaza Action Ireland and Antrim to Gaza. For more information on the initiative click here.
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Brian Kerr Call-up Jack Grealish Martin O'Neill Aston Villa Ireland Republic