Jack Grealish is hellbent on having a great season with Aston Villa.
Dean Smith has told The Birmingham Mail that he witnessed a prime example of Jack Grealish’s growing maturation at Aston Villa during the week.
Grealish returned from injury in March and it proved to be the catalyst for Villa winning promotion, with Smith’s side picking up a club-record 10 league victories in a row after the 23-year-old came back.
Last week, the Aston Villa product played his first Premier League game in three years as the newly-promoted side went down 3-1 away at Tottenham Hotspur.
Grealish often made headlines for the wrong reasons during the Villans’ last stint in the top flight, but he looks a totally different player physically and mentally these days.
And Smith reveals that the star midfielder returned to Bodymoor Heath on Tuesday of his volition to do extra gym work, illustrating his commitment to himself and the team.
He told The Birmingham Mail: “I know for a fact how professional and how driven this lad is now. I saw it for myself on Tuesday when I came to watch the Villa ladies train at 8pm and he was still in the gym.
“It just shows – we’d trained at Villa Park in the morning and he’d gone back home, had a sleep and then felt he needed to come in and do his usual gym session at 8pm on a Tuesday evening.
“That just shows me how he has matured and how driven he is to become a top performer this season.”
Aston Villa play their first Premier League game of the season at home today, as Bournemouth visit the West Midlands.
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