JACK GREALISH is on a mission to prove a point with England after his Euro 2024 “devastation”.

The Manchester City winger felt Gareth Southgate was wrong to leave him out for the tournament in Germany.

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Interim boss Lee Carsley recalled Grealish last month and started the £100million man – who has just announced he has had a baby girl with partner Sasha Attwood – in wins over Republic of Ireland and Finland.

Asked about his Euros axe, Grealish said: “I will be honest with you – I didn’t really agree with it.

“You can imagine how I was absolutely devastated. It was one of the most difficult periods of life in terms of football.

“It was difficult to just watch the games, especially for someone like me who watches so much football.

“I have won a lot of stuff now so, you asked me should I have gone, yes, I still think I should have, but obviously it wasn’t meant to be.

“I felt like I didn’t have the best season. If you look at some players in my position, for example Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon, Jarrod Bowen, they scored a lot of goals.

“But I know that my game is not just about goals. I give so much more to the team than goals.

“You need a bit of a balance in every position on the pitch and I class myself as quite an experienced player now.

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“I’ve played in a lot of big games — Champions League finals and FA Cup finals.”

Grealish, 29, scored in the 2-0 win over Ireland in Dublin and hopes to feature against Greece in the Nations League at Wembley on Thursday.

The three-time Premier League winner is feeling “a lot of love” playing for Carsley — a fellow Brummie.

And Grealish believes the former Three Lions Under-21s boss has all the qualities to land his new job on a permanent basis.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “He played me in both games and hopefully I repaid him by scoring in Dublin. It was nice to play in the No10 role.

“I wanted to come here and train well and play well. I thank the manager, Lee Carsley, for giving me that chance and having that trust in me. It’s really meant a lot.

“Throughout my career, when I’ve played under managers that have shown a trust in me and communicated with me the way he has in the past two camps, it has really helped me.

“I’ve felt a lot of love from the manager.

“It makes me feel that the manager really does rate me and I can’t speak highly enough of him since I’ve been here.

“He gets across to us how he wants us to play and how he wants me to play personally. The younger lads with him at the Under-21s said he is like a proper father figure.”

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Football agent Kia Joorabchian splashed out more than £8m on three new signings – at racehorse sales in Newmarket.

He secured the trio, all offspring of the legendary Frankel, for his Amo Racing team.

Joorabchian paid 4.4m guineas (£4.6m) – the second most expensive purchase of a yearling at public auction in Europe – at Tattersalls Book 1 Sale.

He also snapped up a filly who is a full sister to Alpinista, winner of the 2022 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, for 2.5m guineas (£2.6m).

And Joorabchian, whose football clients have included ex-Argentina forward Carlos Tevez and former Brazil midfielder Philippe Coutinho, bought a son of Atone for 1.1m guineas (£1.15m).

“It is very difficult to buy such mares because the likes of Juddmonte, Coolmore, Shadwell, all the big guys own all the big mares,” Joorabchian said.

“So we have to come out here and hope that what we are buying in terms of pedigrees will make us competitive.

“It is very hard to buy [such pedigrees] after the yearling stage – once a filly has won a Group One you are in very high prices, so you have got to try to get them earlier and hope that they go on well.”

He was accompanied by bloodstock agent Alex Elliott and Nottingham Forest FC owner Evangelos Marinakis.

“All the teams select the best horse and it is who blinks first, and fair play to Kia he certainly did not blink,” said Elliott.

“Kia is ready for the operation to prove itself at the next echelon and that is where we are trying to get to and that is why we need to get into these families.

“The fact that these horses are staying here is huge for British racing and we should all be huge cheerleaders for it.”

Al Naamah fetched the highest price of 5m guineas in 2013 at the Tattersalls auction, which is Europe’s leading sale of yearlings – horses aged between one and two years who are too young to race.

Racehorse prices are still listed in the old currency of guineas – which equates to £1.05 for every guinea.

Artem Vakhitov hasn’t even had a UFC fight yet, and the promotional wheels are already turning for an Alex Pereira showdown.

Two days after his UFC 307 title defense, Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) boarded a plane from Connecticut to Las Vegas to witness in person Vakhitov (3-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) earn a UFC deal at Dana White’s Contender Series 75.

Vakhitov was patient as he waited for his moment to significantly attack French heavyweight Islem Masraf (3-1) with a flurry for a TKO stoppage at 4:23 of Round 1.

After the fight, UFC CEO Dana White said he debated what he should do with Vakhitov but consulted Pereira, who gave a resounding “absolutely, positively.”

THE RIGHT HAND FROM ARTEM VAKHITOV 💥 #DWCS pic.twitter.com/9f379qJMX0

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 9, 2024

Vakhitov, 33, is a two-time Glory light heavyweight champion, who defended the title five times. He is the last man to defeat Pereira in kickboxing.

The two fighters are tied 1-1 in their lifetime series. Pereira won the first fight by split decision and Vakhitov won the second by majority decision.

Vakhitov told MMA Junkie prior to the bout that while he really wants to fight Pereira again, the two are friendly and respectful without bad blood.

He transitioned to MMA in June 2023 and suffered an injury in the bout. After back-to-back finishes, he earned his DWCS shot and maintained his 100 percent finishing rate.

Dana White said that Alex Pereira told him to sign Artem Vakhitov after his knockout win on #DWCS 👀 pic.twitter.com/ByV4mdcJIS

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 9, 2024

Up-to-the-minute DWCS 75 results include:

Phillips represented nine clubs during his 20-year playing career, including Watford, Sunderland, Southampton, West Brom, Aston Villa and Birmingham.

He scored a total of 287 goals, won eight caps for England and in 2000 became the first English player to win Europe’s Golden Shoe award. Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane became the second English winner last season.

Since retiring in 2014, he has held coaching roles with Leicester City, Derby County and Stoke City before a 15-month stint at South Shields, who he led to promotion into the National League North in his second season in charge in 2022-23.

Phillips had expected to remain at Hartlepool this season but claimed the club had withdrawn a contract offer in order to appoint former Woking boss Darren Sarll instead.

Phillips will be assisted by Wess Brown, who he worked with at South Shields.

LEVI COLWILL turned his back on one of England’s most exclusive neighbourhoods to move back with his family.

The Three Lions defender had been living next to Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham, Surrey — a magnet for stars at London’s Premier League clubs.

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While some of the nation’s richest people who work in the capital also have multi-million-pound pads in the area.

Yet for Chelsea centre-back Colwill, there is no place like home.

Hoping to earn his fourth England cap against Greece at Wembley on Thursday, the 21-year-old has moved back down the M3 to Eastleigh to be near his family as well as his close pals, who all have normal jobs.

Colwill, who played for Southampton’s City Central Youth while also featuring throughout the age groups at Chelsea, has played every minute in the Premier League this season.

He said: “I’ve moved back into my family home and I travel every day.

“No matter how long a day I’ve had, when I get back and see my dog, my mum, dad and little brother, it means the world.

“Being connected with them again is what life is about. Growing up as a player at Southampton City Central, with my mates, was the best time of my life.

“I’m happy I’ve gone back, seeing my friends and family so much more. That’s been reflected with my performances.

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“Being in the bubble when you’re at your club is great — but when you come home it’s more of a peaceful, normal life.

“I’m with people who work 9-5 every day. To be around them shows you their side of life and makes you appreciate yours so much more.”

Asked about his pals, Colwill said: “All my mates do different things. They do different trades which helps me a lot with the house!”

Colwill featured in both of Lee Carsley’s opening wins as interim boss against Ireland and Finland last month.

And he enjoys a close relationship with Carsley as he led the Blues defender to Under-21s Euros glory last year.

Colwill said: “He’s a calm person and he brings that to the team. He’s an amazing person and a strong-minded manager.

“He has a bit of arrogance about the team and himself, he says ‘We’ve got the best players in the world’ and we all believe that we can take that next step to win a huge competition.

“I’ve not got a bad word to say about him because he’s won me an U21 Euros. The lads really like him.”

Lee Carsley praise

Colwill has played for Roberto De Zerbi at Brighton and now Enzo Maresca at Stamford Bridge and he believes Carsley has the same outlook.

He added: “They all like to think more about how their teams are going to play.

“Cars is exactly the same, focusing on how we are going to hurt teams.

“When you’ve got amazing players, you can believe you are going to have most of the possession and you’re going to create most of the chances.

“We are a huge nation, with amazing players so it’s good to have that mindset.”

Alex Pereira’s nemesis is now in the UFC, with a little help from the champ himself.

On Tuesday night, the eighth episode of season eight of Contender Series took place in Las Vegas at the UFC APEX, and after five fights, UFC CEO Dana White handed out contracts to four of the five winners.

But the biggest story of the night was the main event bout between Artem Vakhitov and Islem Masraf — and the audience it garnered.

Vakhitov is a former two-time Glory Kickboxing champion and best known for a pair of bouts with current UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. In fact, Vakhitov is the last man to beat Pereira in kickboxing, so with a potential UFC contract on the line, Pereira flew out to Las Vegas to sit cageside for his fight.

That turned out to be a good decision for both men as Vakhitov overcame a slow start to knock out Masraf in the first round. Despite the finish, it was still and up-and-down performance from Vakhitov that left Dana White on the fence. Ultimately, White said he brought Pereira back to speak with him and it was “Poatan” who vouched for his former Glory foe, leading White to offer him a UFC contract.

Steele breaks Blair

In the penultimate fight of the evening, Kody Steele finally got his shot on Contender Series and he made the most of it with a brutal body shot knockout of Chasen Blair.

Steele was supposed to compete earlier this season on Contender Series until his opponent withdrew from the fight moments before their bout. No such thing happened tonight though as Blair not only made the walk, but made Steele work for it, stuffing takedowns and landing good combinations on the feet. In the second round though, Steele landed a short hook to the body that leveled Blair and earned him a shot in the UFC.

Pinto demolishes Camacho

In the third bout of the evening, undefeated prospect Mario Pinto obliterated Luis Camacho in under two minutes to punch his ticket to the UFC.

Just 26 years old and 8-0 in his career, Pinto was a heavy favorite over Camacho and he showed the composure of a fighter with many more years of experience, taking his time to find the range before flooring Camacho with a short left hook. Some follow-up punches finished the job and Pinto moved to 9-0 and into the UFC.

Dulatov ices Antunes

In the second bout of the evening, Islam Dulatov destroyed Vanilto Antunes with a brutal first-round knockout.

Dulatov entered Contender Series as a big-time prospect and the part-time male model delivered, putting it on Antunes right from the opening bell. Antunes did his best to hand tough but ultimately Dulatov found a home for a nasty right elbow behind the ear that floored Antunes instantly and earned Dulatov a UFC contract.

Gauci outworks Drilich

In the opening bout of the evening, Sean Gauci defeated fellow Australian Anthony Drilich with a workmanlike performance.

Both Gauci and Drilich showed advanced skills in a nip-and-tuck battle that lasted the full 15 minutes. Gauci was unable to score takedowns early and Drilich made him pay with combinations, but as the HEX Fight Series champion began to settle in, he started landing good strikes of his own and mixing in enough takedowns to outlast his fellow Australian fighter.

At the end of the evening, White praised both Gauci and Drilich for their skills saying they have a bright future but that he will not offer either of them a contract right now.

Check out the DWCS week 9 results below.

Artem Vakhitov def. Islem Masraf via TKO (punches) — R1, 4:23

Kody Steele def. Chasen Blair via TKO (punches) — R2, 4:07

Mario Pinto def. Luis Camacho via TKO (punches) — R1, 1:43

Islam Dulatov def. Vanilto Antunes via knockout (elbow) — R1, 2:44

Sean Gauci def. Anthony Drilich via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)