MISSING YOU MADLY
Grealish admits lockdown has taught him that he’s obsessed with Villa.. and playing football
JACK GREALISH says lockdown reminded him that football is his “obsession”.
The Aston Villa skipper, a fan of the club since he was a boy, is relishing the prospect of a return to action as discussions continue over Project
Restart.
He was thriving in the Premier League with seven goals and six assists before the coronavirus shutdown.
That had made the England prospect a £70million target for Manchester United this summer.
And the 24-year-old creative midfielder, the most fouled player in the top flight, cannot wait to be out on the pitch again.
“Today I try not to take anything for granted because all I ever wanted to do was to be a professional footballer and I’m so privileged to be doing so and be captain of Aston Villa,” said Grealish.
“I know a lot of other footballers play golf or like cricket but all I love is football. Since I was a kid that’s all I ever wanted to do.
“I was so obsessed with Aston Villa. If you ever spoke to my parents, they would say the same thing – I was so in love with football.
“Since I was a kid, wherever I was around the house or in the garden, I would have a ball with me. All I ever wanted to do was play football, even in school when I just loved PE. I have never taken interest in anything else – even in any other sports.
“I used to just live for the Saturdays when Villa were playing as my dad used to take me to the home and away games with my brother, my uncle and cousins.”
Grealish’s contract runs until 2023, but he dropped several hints on social media this year of his interest in a possible move to United having as a child admired Cristiano Ronaldo.
Asked during an Instagram Q&A session which shirt number he would wear if he was not No.10, he replied: “I used to love seven growing up because of Cristiano.”
He also briefly previously ‘liked’ a social media post of him celebrating his goal for Villa at Old Trafford in December with the caption “this but in a red shirt”.
Grealish has been a long-term target for United, who tried to sign him as a teenager before he agreed his first pro contract with Villa.
He is still wanted by United despite being forced to apologise for breaking lockdown rules to party with former Villa striker Ross Mccormack.