Jack Grealish has gone back to the future to discover his best form yet as he bids to inspire Manchester City to a historic treble with the help of new confidante Nathan Ake.
When Grealish was at Aston Villa trying to fire the club into the Premier League alongside John Terry in 2017/18, the pair would spend hours after training working out in the gym before using the club’s pool and ice bath.
Now Grealish has adopted similar methods with pal Ake in a bid to ensure he remains a star man in Pep Guardiola’s side pushing for glory on three fronts. Grealish’s extra work has seen the ace do a lot of power and speed work on his legs on the running machine at City’s Etihad campus.
It paid off against Liverpool recently when Grealish sprinted back to make a superb covering tackle on Mo Salah, who is known as one of the quickest players in the Premier League. And whereas he once used to hang out with former Chelsea and England legend Terry, Grealish now has a new gym buddy - Ake.
The two have known each other for a decade since facing off for Villa and Chelsea in the Next Gen series a decade ago when Villa beat Blues' youngsters in the final.
Dutch international Ake, 28, was a midfielder then before maturing into a classy centre-back with Bournemouth and then City. The pair became team-mates at the Etihad following Grealish’s record £100million move in August 2021.
Grealish has since taken tips from Ake about the art of defending and supplemented their chats with video analysis of various stars. The improvements have gone down very well with City boss Guardiola, who has started Grealish in his last 12 Premier League games as the champions have chased down leaders Arsenal.
Grealish has stepped up amid injury to Phil Foden to help City reel off 10 successive wins in all competitions to boost hopes of overhauling the Gunners for a second successive title.
Grealish won the title with Manchester City in his first season but it is only this term the £100million ace looks to be finally winning over any remaining doubters after his record switch from Villa.
Erling Haaland with an incredible 48 goals this term has rightly got most of the headlines in his debut season in the Premier League. While Kevin De Bruyne has now amassed a staggering 101 Premier League assists. But Grealish is thriving too now he is full of confidence in his own game and happy to grab games by the scruff of the neck once more like he used to do for Villa.
Team-mates now pass more to Grealish after learning to trust the unselfish star, who has the skills and vision to usually return the ball. They know Grealish can set them up, play them in and appreciate City’s No.10 can also crucially score a goal too with two this month to take his tally to five this term.
It has contributed to City’s push for a treble with Guardiola’s men into today’s FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United after securing a Champions League semi-final re-match against Real Madrid as they bid to lift the trophy for the first time in Istanbul in June.
It is thrilling territory for Grealish who is dreaming of glory again. He wants to start and play in every game which has inspired him to get back in the gym more once again. The extra work has not been easy but Grealish is happy to keep doing it when both he and City are clearly reaping the rewards.
