Fifa has given Jack Grealish permission to play for England. The 20-year-old Aston Villa midfielder was born in Solihull but represented the Republic of Ireland from under-15 to under-21 level. He decided in September he wanted to represent England at senior level and has now finally been given clearance.

Leicester’s Danny Drinkwater steps out of shadows to merit England place Read more

A Fifa spokesperson said: “The single judge decided to accept the request of the Football Association and the player Jack Grealish based on article eight paragraph one in conjunction with article five paragraph three of the regulations governing the application of the Fifa statutes.”

Article eight states that: “If a player has more than one nationality, or if a player acquires a new nationality, or if a player is eligible to play for several representative teams due to nationality, he may, only once, request to change the Association for which he is eligible to play international matches to the Association of another country of which he holds nationality.”

That is conditional on the player not having represented his former country in a competitive senior match. Grealish meets those criteria but he appears a much less likely England international than was the case when he made his decision in September.

Despite Villa’s dreadful season, Grealish has found himself on the sidelines. He has not appeared in the Premier League for more than two months and his last appearance in any competition for Villa was defeat by Manchester City on 30 January.