Jack Grealish was told by Tim Sherwood yesterday to focus on Aston Villa before making a decision over his international future.

The 19-year-old helped Villa into the FA Cup final on Sunday with a starring role in their 2-1 win over Liverpool at Wembley.

Birmingham-born Grealish has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-21 level but is yet to earn a senior cap and could still play for England.

He is on England Under-21 boss Gareth Southgate’s radar but manager Sherwood wants Grealish to concentrate on Villa first.

He said: “It’s up to Jack where he wants to go. It’s purely up to him. What I’ve got to do is make sure he’s got that decision to make. He must be doing something right for Aston Villa if he’s got those options. That’s my priority.

“Then it’s up to Jack to decide where he wants to go. I had the same situation with Nabil Bentaleb, who could have played for France but decided to pick Algeria. I did have a chat with him and he asked me what to do. I just said:

‘You’ve got to go with your heart. Do you think you’re French or Algerian?’

“That’s the decision he had to make and now Jack has got to make that decision. He has to play a few more times for Aston Villa before he needs to make that decision.”