Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce insists Jack Grealish must be aiming for an England call-up.

The 23-year-old, who almost joined Tottenham in the summer, is a key player for Villa. And Bruce believes he must now catch Gareth Southgate's attention.

"I'm not going to tell Gareth how to do his job, my job is hard enough at the minute. Certainly he [Grealish] came up in the conversation, the conversation was only brief," Bruce said in his pre-match press conference ahead of Villa's trip to Bristol City.

"So that's got to be his next challenge and his next step up. People are always watching him, that's going to be obvious.

"Now we need Jack to find the form that got him a new deal and attracted the bids like he did in the summer... for me he was the standout player in all of the Championship last season.

"Ability-wise nobody can question him."