Jack Grealish boards private jet in Cannes after Man City star let his hair down in hilarious wig on St Tropez holiday

Appearing on Football’s Greatest Pod alongside legendary presenter Jeff Stelling, Merson was asked about the thoughts of Gordon and Palmer’s zero minutes so far, revealing a theory about avoiding conflict in the camp.

The 56-year-old said: “That’s why they’re there and Jack Grealish is not there. Because Jack, I imagine, would be going mad now. I can’t imagine Gordon and Palmer saying anything.

“I just imagine them sitting there, just saying to himself; ‘Well, maybe I should be getting on’.

“I don’t see him saying anything to him. I could see a Grealish going to Gareth and going; ‘Why am I not playing?'”

He continued: “I think he brings on Eze, who’s one of our most gifted players to do a job, he’s running back.

“He puts Bowen on the other side, Bowen’s alright if you want to keep a lead, you know if we’re winning like we were last week [against Serbia].

“We’re one-nil up, you put him out on the right, he’ll do what it says on the tin, get up and down, block crosses, get crosses in.

“But you don’t put him on to win a game in my opinion. You know there’s horses for courses.

“You’ve got to put Palmer on, he scored 20 goals this season. You know he can play with that bit of flair. Eze gets on and he doesn’t touch the ball hardly, there’s no plan.

“You know I would play Watkins but I’d have to keep Kane in the team. I’d have to find a way because you know you have to keep world class players on the football pitch.”

Meanwhile, Southgate said of his decision to chop Grealish: “I have just delivered a really difficult conversation to a lad who is devastated. I think the world of him as a kid.

“It certainly doesn’t get any easier. You put yourself in the shoes of a player, a parent.

“You understand that for these players this is a devastating moment. We knew we had a couple of really difficult days coming up.

“The whole period has been tough, going back to talking to Marcus Rashford and Hendo (Jordan Henderson). Lots of difficult calls. But we have worked through all of that.”