Rémi Garde has dropped Jack Grealish from Aston Villa’s squad for Saturday’s home game against Watford after the 20-year-old was pictured in a nightclub in Manchester only hours after playing in the 4-0 defeat to Everton.

The Villa manager confirmed that Grealish had been banished to the under-21 squad this week and he also accused the midfielder of a lack of professionalism.

Although Garde would not say whether Grealish has been fined, it is a measure of how seriously the Frenchman views the incident last weekend that he will not consider the player for selection against Watford, in what is effectively a must-win game for Villa, who are bottom of the league and five points adrift of safety.

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It is not the first time that Grealish has attracted the wrong sort of headlines for his lifestyle and there is a growing sense of frustration within the club about his behaviour. Grealish was disciplined after being photographed passed out in the street in Tenerife back in the summer, and earlier this year a tabloid newspaper published a picture of him inhaling nitrous oxide, prompting Tim Sherwood, the club’s former manager, to warn him about his conduct.

Garde, however, has adopted a much more hardline approach and is clearly not going to stand for any off-field antics, in particular at a time when Villa are enduring such a miserable time on the pitch.

“This is not professional. It is not what is expected from my players,” the manager said. “That is why now Jack is training with the under-21 team for the moment. He won’t be included in the squad for Watford. At this stage he is not playing this weekend and he is training with the under-21 team. That is all I can say for the moment.”

Although Garde suggested Grealish had been given permission to make his own arrangements after the Everton match, he did not imagine the player would be out on the town. “Sometimes players in every country ask to stay in the city we have played in and this is not a problem for me, it happens one or two times a season,” he said. “The problem with Jack was not that he wasn’t on the bus. The problem was elsewhere.”

Asked whether Grealish’s friends needed to help him out, Garde implied that the responsibility rested with the player to mature and take control of his life. “When you are 20 you are quite an adult and you have to know that and you have to behave in the way you want to go.”

Grealish has scored just one goal this season, in the 3-2 defeat at Leicester on 13 September, and he has not completed the full 90 minutes of any game since the 2-0 loss at Chelsea on 17 October.

Steve Round, meanwhile, has revealed that he has turned down the chance to become part of Villa’s coaching staff. Round, who previously worked as David Moyes’s assistant at Manchester United and Everton, said that he was offered “more of a junior role” at Villa and that the position did not suit him or Garde.

“I met Rémi Garde and his staff and I was impressed with what he is trying to do, it’s innovative,” Round told Sky Sports.

“He already had his own staff and assistant on board, though, and what I was being offered we both saw as being more of a junior role that was not really right for me. I was disappointed, Villa are a big club. I do want to get into management, though, and the deal just wasn’t right for either of us. I wish Villa luck and I hope they get out of it.”