With Villa seeming to lack creativity in the past three weeks, it’s obvious to everyone that Jack Grealish needs to be getting some more game time under his belt.
The youngster has blossomed under new manager Tim Sherwood since his appointment back in February, displaying raw talent with stunning standout performances in the F.A. Cup, particularly against Liverpool, in where he single-handedly ripped the Reds defense to shreds. But why do Villa need Jack Grealish to perform so young?
Grealish is a loyal Villan who has been a servant to the club since he was only 6 years old. Grealish has claret and blue running through his blood with his great-great-grandfather, Billy Garraty winning the 1905 F.A Cup with the club. Grealish spent 12 years between 2001 and 2013 moving up the Villa youth ranks, which included an impressive NextGen series win with the Villa u19 squad in 2012-13. The tricky midfielder then made his debut as an 87th-minute substitute for the senior team in a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City back in May 2014 – after returning from a loan spell at Notts County.
It wasn’t until the following season that Grealish became noticed and made his breakthrough to Villa’s senior squad. Despite having a fantastic pre-season in the Hong Kong Sevens in which he finished top scorer, Grealish still wasn’t doing enough to earn his first league start under Paul Lambert.
It wasn’t until the arrival of Tim Sherwood that the English-born star truly shone. He made his first start against QPR in April and impressed the masses, earning him a lot of attention from the media. His season really climaxed in the F.A. Cup semi-final against Liverpool in which he could not be contained by the Reds. His international career became an extremely sought after subject after this particular performance.
International Career – Who will Grealish play for?
Grealish has earned multiple caps for the Republic of Ireland from u15 up to u21 level. Although born and raised in England, 3 of Grealish’s grandparents are Irish which makes him eligible to play for their national team.
He seemed destined to represent Ireland until recently when speculation gathered whether he could some day play for England. These rumours were further supported when Martin O’Neill reported that Grealish had turned down his call-up to play for the Ireland senior squad against England and Scotland after the season had ended. Roy Hodgson was then reported to have attempted to call up Grealish but didn’t in the end to avoid conflict playing against Ireland.
Whether Grealish wants to stay loyal to his grandparents or to his home country is up to himself. If Grealish chooses Ireland he knows he will be a regular starter, but will Ireland be competing in major international tournaments such as the World Cup? If he chooses England will he feature at all? We will find out soon.
Creativity
So far this season, Villa have failed to impress in front of goal with the absence of Christian Benteke up front. Jack Grealish alongside new signing, Adama Traoré could inflict some real damage to the opposition defence with their creativity and gift some more scoring opportunities to fire Villa up the league.
In truth, Grealish is Villa’s future. Grealish has the world at his feet.
