Guardiola will not stop Grealish joining England squad despite not wanting him to go due to recent injury | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola admits he wants Jack Grealish to stay with Manchester City over the international break but says he will not stop the attacker from joining up with England.

Grealish has been called up to interim Three Lions boss Lee Carsley’s squad for the games against Greece and Ireland despite Guardiola revealing he is still not fit to play against Brighton on Saturday.

“It’s his (Carsley’s) decision,”Guardiola said. “In 17 days he didn’t train once, today was the first training and he trained for 20 minutes. This is the reality.

“I’m really pleased that players, when they are fit, when they didn’t struggle for the last one, two, three weeks or a month, go to the national team. I’m more than satisfied that they go to represent their country, they love to play for them.

“But when they are not fit and they struggle for the last month, I have the opinion that they have to recover.”

Guardiola added that he is unaware that Carsley or England have contacted the club: “The medical department didn’t tell me they spoke with him (Carsley) so I don’t know.

“They can select all the players that they want. I’m not the guy to say you cannot go, but for my team tomorrow, he is not fit. He cannot play tomorrow, that is all I can say.

“For more than two weeks he cannot train but the people from England believe he can help, so go.

“He (Grealish) wants to go with the national team.”