Gary O’Neil says Jack Grealish has improved a great deal this season.
Former West Ham midfielder Gary O’Neil included Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish in his Premier League team of the season.
On TalkSport, O’Neil said Grealish edged out Liverpool’s Gini Wijnaldum for the final place in his three-man midfield alongside Jordan Henderson and Kevin de Bruyne.
O’Neil, 36, said: “I’ve decided to go with Jack Grealish over Wijnaldum. Jack Grealish is playing in a team that hasn’t had it all its own way. He’s had to work extremely hard to find time on the ball, work hard without the ball. He’s come on so much, he’s grown into this role as a leader.
“He’s got the armband. He was always seen as a little bit of a flair player, who drifted in and out of games too much. This year he’s grown into a man. He’s a leader.”
Grealish fully deserves his spot in the side ahead of Wijnaldum. The only possible point of contention would be whether he should get in in central midfield given he has played on the left wing for large parts of the season.
But Grealish is the only reason Villa have a fighting chance of survival. He has been a talisman at a club where a frantic summer of spending has not paid off.
He clearly loves Villa and is giving absolutely everything he can to keep them in the top flight. If England’s friendlies were on this month, he should have been a shoo-in for the squad.
Villa must hope he can keep it up, whenever Premier League football resumes.
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