Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish finally getting the recognition he deserves

Jack Grealish has really taken the Premier League by storm so far in his first season back since 2015/16, recording 2 goals and 3 assists so far, which is already a better total than what he managed in his previous top flight campaigns.

The England Manager Gareth Southgate has been to a couple of Aston Villa games already, and Grealish is surely now firmly in his thoughts ahead of the next international break in November.

Speaking on Talksport, Danny Murphy noted how much Villa’s number 10 has matured and strengthened up physically since his previous appearances in the competition, but the truth is that this new and improved Grealish has been on show for 2 seasons now.

After an inconsistent and frustrating first year in the Championship for Aston Villa and Grealish himself, where he was often left on the bench, which seems crazy when you think of his importance to the club now, he seemed to be missing the game-changing quality; that drive needed to succeed in the rough and tumble nature of the Championship.

Grealish’s whole outlook on life changed after he suffered a nasty kidney injury in a pre-season friendly in August 2017, which kept him out until the following December. He since disclosed that the injury left him struggling to walk and that he promised not to take his life as a footballer for granted, realising that it could all be over in an instant.

He then preceded to lead Aston Villa to the Championship Play-Off final (a 1-0 loss to Fulham) by beginning to showcase his talent on a more consistent basis. His change of position from winger to a box-to-box midfield player allowed him to get on the ball more and use his dribbling ability to dominate games as well as adding goals and assists to his arsenal. He was soon attracting the interest of other clubs with his performances..

A move to Tottenham was heavily spoken about in that summer of 2018, but Grealish stayed at Villa as the club finally got back to the Premier League at the third attempt. Grealish returned from another long injury absence in March 2019 to step up his performances another level as captain and leader of the team.

Some of his displays and goals were a joy to behold, but there still was this nagging doubt among the media and some fans about whether he could perform on the big stage of the top flight of English football. He has shown so far that this is where he belongs and don’t be surprised to see him turn a few more heads by lining up for his country in the not-to-distant future.