Jack Grealish. A player that divides opinion on the banks of the River Tyne throughout recent seasons.
It was his goal that helped Newcastle United win the Championship title on the final day of the 2017 season and he even met up with some of the Toon contingent for a drink to celebrate. The England international has enjoyed quite the rise to stardom on the pitch, joining Manchester City for £100million in 2021.
However, his comments following City's title win that season, where he compared Riyah Mahrez's performance to that of Miggy Almiron, saw him come crashing down in the eyes of Toon supporters. The Man City playmaker has since apologised for those comments with the Paraguayan taking centre stage at the start of the current campaign.
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The Toon winger brushed those comments to one side and said they didn't play in part in his blistering start to the season. Speaking to the Daily Mail he said: “I didn’t pay a lot of attention, I was on holiday with my family. And I didn’t have a mobile phone signal! So no, I didn’t watch the video. I wasn’t bothered.”
Almiron was one of the star players for Newcastle at the start of the campaign and is enjoying his best season in front of goal since joining the Magpies. The Toon wide man has ten goals and three assists in 30 games in all competitions, but has shown signs of slowing down in recent weeks.
Grealish however, has done the opposite. It took the England international a while to settle in at the Etihad, with many doubters questioning whether he'd be able to cut it on the top stage.
He's not quite his the heights fellow England international Marcus Rashford has hit since the winter break, but the City playmaker has enjoyed his own purple patch since returning from the World Cup with England. With Pep Guardiola allowing Joao Cancelo to join Bayern, and Bernardo Silva now occupying an unorthodox attacking wing-back role, Grealish has been given the opportunity he's so craved.
"I put Bernardo there because I want to control them," Guardiola told the Manchester Evening News when asked about Silva playing out wide in the win over Arsenal earlier this year. "I want to dominate and thought with Bernardo we would be able to do it. It happened, maybe not, I don't know. But I have to feel it. All the decisions I take are always in that sense."
That decision has seen Silva bomb on in front of Grealish, allowing him to rediscover the fine form at Aston Villa that warranted a move to the Etihad. "When I was at Villa I would always have an overlapping full-back," said Grealish after coming off the bench to help City earn a draw with an assist against Chelsea last month.
"I don't want to keep going back to Aston Villa but, when I played for Dean Smith, he'd say to me; 'Go and find where you think the weak link is in the defence. If you want to go right, in the middle, hug the touchline'."
Grealish himself has thrived on the added responsibility in recent weeks with contributions against Leeds, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal on two occasions and their most recent FA Cup outing against Bristol City. The 27-year-old has three goals and six assists in all competitions this season, with eight of those goal contributions coming since the return from the World Cup.
Newcastle will know fine well the task at hand this weekend. Not made any easier by the Carabao Cup Final defeat to Manchester United at the weekend.
Eddie Howe's side have been given the hardest return to Premier League action they could have possibly asked for. That aside, it's an opportunity for the Magpies to prove their own European credentials and kick start their top-four ambition after a lull in form.
Grealish's comments about Almiron should now be water under the bridge for both the Magpies and the Paraguayan, with stopping the Manchester City playmaker just one of a number of things to consider ahead of the trip to the Etihad. Let alone deal with Erling Haaland...
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