Darren Bent claims that Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish will be considering a January transfer to boost his hopes of playing for England.
Bent believes Grealish cannot be playing for a struggling team if he wants to force his way into Gareth Southgate’s plans.
The Villa captain is a reported target of Manchester United after impressing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer by scoring a wonder goal at Old Trafford.
Grealish is currently valued by Transfermarkt at £31million, but his worth to Villa is surely far more than that.
The Three Lions have friendlies lined up against Italy, Denmark, Austria and Romania in 2020, before taking part in the European Championships over the summer.
Bent admits he is worried that the Villans could lose their best player next month.
“Jack Grealish is their best player, I’m sure in January he’s going to be looking at the situation,” Bent told Football Insider.
“If he’s got any aspirations of making that European squad next year, he needs to be playing in a team that’s doing well. Him playing in a team that’s fighting relegation is not doing him any favours.
“I do worry about Aston Villa from that perspective as well, so it’s going to be an interesting and awkward second half of the season for them.”