SOMETIMES, as a footballer, your stock rises highest when you are not playing. Jadon Sancho has not kicked a ball yet at Euro 2020, Jack Grealish was an unused substitute in England’s opening group game against Croatia and came off the bench for the final 27 minutes of Friday’s goalless draw with Scotland.

By doing nothing, or next to nothing, their perceived importance to England’s chances of progression have increased. Ahead of this evening’s group decider with the Czech Republic, they are the two players England supporters are clamouring to see in the team.

Grealish’s status within the England squad has commanded a huge amount of attention throughout the second half of the season. Having featured in all three of England’s matches last November, he missed March’s World Cup qualifiers through injury.

He was back for the two warm-up games at the Riverside, but despite performing impressively in both matches, he has found himself on the sidelines at the Euros, with Southgate preferring to go with Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Mason Mount behind Harry Kane.

With Mount’s participation in tonight’s game in doubt as he isolates following a close contact with Scotland’s Billy Gilmour, who has tested for Covid, perhaps this will be the moment when Southgate finally puts his trust in Grealish. The England boss insists he is an admirer of the Aston Villa midfielder, but it is hard to avoid a lingering feeling that Southgate does not quite trust Grealish to fit into his preferred system. Too much of a maverick, perhaps? Not diligent enough when it comes to tracking back?

Grealish’s supporters will claim that none of that matters when posited against his vision and creativity, attributes that were conspicuously lacking in England’s bitterly disappointing draw with Scotland on Friday. If he gets the chance this evening, he will have to convince Southgate he can be a match-winner while still sticking to his manager’s script.

“I’m a bit fearless the way I play,” said Grealish in an interview with UEFA yesterday, when asked why he thinks he has become an England fans’ favourite. “I try to get people off their seats. I try just to be direct, running at players, running at defenders.

“I hope to bring a lot. If I got the chance to play, I’d be as fearless as possible. I’d attack the full-backs or whoever I’m up against. I’d just try and do what I do on a weekly basis for Aston Villa.”

That carefree attacking is something England were unable to produce on Friday, and while a draw this evening would guarantee Southgate’s side finishing in the top two of Group D, there is a need to produce a more exciting performance to regain much of the momentum that was lost against the Scots.

Might the presence of Sancho help transform England’s outlook? The 21-year-old boasts 19 international caps, but nine of those appearances have come as a substitute and he has not really had the chance to prove himself at the elite level in a truly meaningful fixture.

He has proved he can cut it at Champions League level with Borussia Dortmund though, and finished the season in excellent form in the Bundesliga. Over the course of the last three years, Sterling is the only member of the England squad to have had more goal involvements (scoring or providing an assist) at club and international level than Sancho.

There are alternative options in the England squad, but most, like Foden and Mount, like to play their football in front of the opposition defence. Sancho, on the other hand, is one of the few players whose natural game takes him beyond the opponents’ back four.

“We just have so many good attacking players,” said Southgate, when asked to account for Sancho’s lack of involvement at his pre-match press conference last night. “In terms of wide players, or players who can play in those areas and come inside, we have Raheem, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka – and we have Jadon.

“They're all good players, so if you weren’t asking me about Jadon, you’d be asking me about one of the others. That’s the nature of it.”