By his own admission, Jack Grealish has packed a lot of “stupid stuff” into his 27 years. The Miguel Almirón episode was surely a good example. Grealish was a little drunk and extremely euphoric (or perhaps it was the other way around) as he celebrated Manchester City’s Premier League title triumph last season and he was asked by his teammate Bernardo Silva to explain the final-day comeback win over Aston Villa.
Grealish being Grealish, he got carried away with one of his jokes and ended up performing a drive-by on Almirón, the Newcastle winger. One of the secrets, Grealish said on a video shared on social media, was to substitute Riyad Mahrez because “he played like Almirón”. “Do you know what?” Grealish says from England’s World Cup training base in Al Wakrah. “I haven’t actually been asked about that and let me just address it.”
And so Grealish does. He makes the point that he had been drinking but, really, there was no excuse. He regrets it and he is sorry. Grealish says that he reached out to the Newcastle defender Matt Targett, with whom he played at Villa, to ask whether he could pass on an apology to Almirón. “Matt just said: ‘Jack, he’s a lovely kid, he’s harmless and he doesn’t speak a lot of English … he won’t really be bothered,’” Grealish says. “I didn’t want to reply [to Almirón] on social media because you dig a bigger hole and I’ve been there with other stuff.”
Quick GuideQatar: beyond the football
Show
It was a World Cup like no other. For the last 12 years the Guardian has been reporting on the issues surrounding Qatar 2022, from corruption and human rights abuses to the treatment of migrant workers and discriminatory laws. The best of our journalism is gathered on our dedicated Qatar: Beyond the Football home page for those who want to go deeper into the issues beyond the pitch.
Guardian reporting goes far beyond what happens on the pitch. Support our investigative journalism today.
Grealish would reflect even harder when Almirón gave an interview after he was named as the Premier League’s player of the month for October. Almirón, who scored six goals during the period – he has eight for the season – said that Grealish’s comment had nothing to do with his stellar form. “Jack’s a great player first and foremost and I wish him all the best as I always do,” Almirón said.
“I thought: ‘What a guy,’” Grealish says. “Because if that was me and somebody had said that about me, I’d have probably been the other way and been like: ‘Fuck it.’ I didn’t realise it was a video to go out but even in private I shouldn’t have said it because he’s a fellow professional. I’ve had a lot of stick off the Newcastle fans and rightly so.
“I like to enjoy myself and I just go with the flow but I do some stupid stuff sometimes that I do regret. When I next play against him, I’ll show him the most respect because that’s what he’s done in a situation where he probably didn’t have to. I genuinely hope he does keep scoring – as long as those Newcastle fans stop messaging me.”
Grealish is asked whether he has put Almirón in his Fantasy Football team. “Nah, I don’t play that,” he replies. “Everyone loves it. I get about 100 messages every week saying: ‘Is [Erling] Haaland starting?’ It’s not really for me. I love my football but I can’t be arsed with it.”
Grealish is nothing if not open and honest. And if he veers off course, at times, his heart is in the right place. When he scored in England’s 6-2 win over Iran in the opening round of group games, he performed a wavy-armed celebration in tribute to a young City fan he had met called Finlay, who has cerebral palsy. Grealish’s sister, Mollie, also has the condition.
“I don’t do that for any clout or whatever,” Grealish says. “I do that because that’s what I feel I’m good at sometimes. Because I can relate to it with my little sister. It’s nice for him [Finlay] because he’ll go back to school and probably be quite popular. It ended up being so nice and quite emotional.”
It is hard not to warm to Grealish as he holds court, keeping the tone light, at one point despairing at the union flag waistcoat that his dad, Kevin, has insisted on wearing to matches. Grealish is in Qatar to enjoy himself, to be himself, because that is the only way he knows and it is the key to who he is on the pitch – a player who wants to express himself without fear.
Grealish’s numbers have not been great since his £100m move from Villa to City in the summer of last year – seven goals, four assists in all competitions – and there is exasperation when he considers how such metrics are “all that people go on about now … so much more than they should.”
What Grealish wants people to recognise is courage on the ball and he brings up Silva, who he describes as probably the best player he has played with. Grealish jumps out of his seat to illustrate a moment from a City game in which Pep Guardiola ordered Silva to take the ball off the toes of the goalkeeper, Ederson, to build a move practically from the goalline.
after newsletter promotion
“Bernardo goes off on his little dribble around and I was like: ‘What does he think he’s doing? He thinks it’s school football!’” Grealish says. “He is unbelievable. He doesn’t get loads of goals and assists. But the way he takes the ball under pressure …
“Pep says he wants us to show balls, wanting the ball under pressure when the opposition crowd are against you – when you’re at Anfield, everyone is whistling and you’re saying: ‘Give me the ball.’ That is Bernardo in a nutshell. That’s what I think I do a little bit.”
Grealish’s love of the game and the way that he cherishes the ball always shines through. It was stamped all over a recent video of him and his City and England teammate Phil Foden playing a game of long-distance no-bounce, their touches and volleys sumptuous.
“Luke Shaw said to me: ‘When I come away with England, you can tell who the City lads are,’” Grealish says. “He said: ‘You always have a ball, you always want a ball.’ We get that from being at City. At Villa, you’d be sitting there, [players] on their phones … then at City, you’re sitting there and balls are flying across the changing room, people playing two-touch.”
Grealish has made an impact off the bench in each of England’s three games so far. With Senegal looming in the last 16 on Sunday, he intends to embrace any opportunity.