How Jack Grealish went from meh man to a main man at Manchester City

I t is safe to assume that Jack Grealish got involved and helped to drink “all the alcohol in Manchester”, as Pep Guardiola had it, after City’s latest Premier League title coronation last month. Of course, he did. Grealish is not, to borrow one of his good-natured jibes, Erling Haaland “sitting in his ice bath”. He loves a night out and is happy to say so. It is a part of his Jack the lad appeal.

With Grealish, there is the sense that he is never more than a few beers from a major PR incident. He is a danger man on and off the pitch and, again, it seems to be why people see him and smile – even when, at times, they know they should not.

Rewind to May 2022, to City’s previous title triumph, the open-top bus parade and Grealish getting carried away with one of his own jokes. What was the secret to the team’s dramatic final-day comeback win over Aston Villa, Grealish was asked in a video shared on social media? To substitute Riyad Mahrez, he answered, because he “played like Almirón”.

For a long time, particularly when Miguel Almirón was banging them in for Newcastle in the early months of this season, Grealish was reminded of those comments. Why on earth had he singled him out? Grealish does not know. It was just something that popped into his head as the beer bubbles rose. By his own admission, he has done a lot of “stupid stuff”.

There was nothing from him this time as he revelled in the buzz of winning the league for the second time in his two seasons at City, after his British record £100m transfer from Villa. But there was a much more significant difference.

That day against his home-town club, Grealish had been an unused substitute, which seemed to sum up his debut campaign in City colours. When the big games were