Ross Barkley can be the ideal companion for Jack Grealish at Aston Villa, according to Clinton Morrison.
Barkley has made a flying start to life at Villa Park, scoring in his first two matches against Liverpool and Leicester City, including a last-gasp winner away to the latter.
Meanwhile, Grealish has started the season in exceptional form, inspiring his side to four wins out of four in the Premier League and also appearing for England.
The early on-pitch relationship that Barkley and Grealish have looks extremely promising, and speaking on the BBC’s The Football Daily podcast on Monday, ex-Birmingham City striker Morrison talked up their brilliance:
Fair play to Jack Grealish. He doesn’t want all the stuff on his shoulders because he is the main man; last season Villa were looking for him all the time and saying ‘can Jack Grealish win us the game?’
I think the signing of Ross Barkley is brilliant; you look at him yesterday [Sunday] he wasn’t really in the game, but there’s a little bit of magic right at the end, 20-yards-out and it’s a great strike into the bottom corner.
So, I now feel like Jack Grealish has got someone he can look to play one-twos with.
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Some footballers just click with each other, enjoying a telepathic understanding that can’t always be explained.
It looks as though Barkley and Grealish have that together, possessing a level of intelligence that is arguably on another level to their Villa teammates, and linking up to devastating effect.
The addition of Barkley on loan from Chelsea looks to be masterclass from Dean Smith – the key now is the midfielder delivering on a consistent basis.
That is why he ultimately couldn’t earn regular playing time at Stamford Bridge, but he has the talent to be a real hero at Villa Park.
