Jack Grealish has hit back at Roy Keane following comments made by the Nottingham Forest great in the wake of England's Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy.
England fell agonisingly short of their first major tournament victory since 1966 when they were beaten on penalties at Wembley on Sunday night.
Aston Villa star Grealish came off the bench during extra-time, with the sides locked at 1-1.
That was the way it stay at the end of the 120 minutes, so a shootout was required to determined the winners.
Ultimately, it was Italy who prevailed 3-2 on penalties as England were left to reflect on what might have been.
Harry Kane and Harry Maguire converted England's first two spot kicks but Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and 19-year-old Bukayo Saka all failed to score.
The choice of penalty takers, particularly Arsenal teenager Saka, raised a few eyebrows, with the likes of former Notts County loanee Grealish and Raheem Sterling not featuring.
Speaking on ITV's post-match coverage, former Forest, Manchester United and Republic of Ireland midfielder Keane said: "If you’re Sterling or Grealish, you cannot sit there and watch a kid walk up ahead of you. You can’t.
“You can’t sit there and go: 'I see a young kid, 19-year-old, a child, walking up in front of me, and I’ve played a lot more games, I’ve got a lot more experience'.
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“Sterling, who has won a lot more games, won trophies...
"Gareth (Southgate) might have been thinking he's going to be six or seven, you can’t sit there.
"That must be hard to take, you’ve got to go to this young kid and say: 'I'll step up before you'."
England manager Southgate took full responsibility for the choice of penalty takers.
"It is down to me," he said. "I decided on the penalty takers based on what they have done in training.
"Nobody is on their own. We have won together as a team and it is on all of us together to not be able to win this game.
"In terms of penalties, it is my call and it totally rests with me."
And Grealish has now broken his silence on the matter, replying to a Twitter post relaying Keane's comments to say he was willing to take a penalty.
The 25-year-old Villa captain tweeted: "I said I wanted to take one!!!!
"The gaffer has made so many right decisions through this tournament and he did (on Sunday)!
"But I won’t have people say that I didn’t want to take a peno when I said I will."
