Jack Grealish returns to Aston Villa with medals, money and Man City star at crossroads
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Jack Grealish returns to Aston Villa this afternoon with seven notable medals at home, many millions in the bank and a career drifting into a morass. The free-wheeling maverick whose £100m transfer did not seem entirely outlandish has, in the space of three years, been transformed into the world’s most expensive decoy. And at that not even a particularly effective one.
When Grealish left his boyhood club for City in August 2021 he was hailed as a difference-maker who would give Pep Guardiola yet another weapon to destroy opponents. But from the start there was a gradual stifling of Grealish’s creativity to become part of the machine. Now that Pep’s appliance needs a service, it is inevitable that the Grealish debate revs up once again.
Three Premier League titles and a Champions League win, endorsement deals that led to some experts claiming he had become the “world’s most marketable footballer” in early 2023, suggest it has been hugely successful. If silverware and money are all that matters.
But Grealish the Villan carried such flair that it was easy to tie him to the feeling that football is about so much more. Players with such skill and unpredictability are what make people fall in love with the game. Grealish has never been a man to stuff the stats sheet. In his final season at Villa there were 10 league goals and 16 assists, career best figures in both categories. Then again, he has always been about the bits that are harder to quantify.
In three and a bit seasons, he has 12 league goals and 23 assists for City. There were moments during the Treble season when he was outstanding, not least in a 4-1 win against Liverpool when Guardiola made a point of embracing him with a huge bear hug.
