Jack Grealish Was Mature Beyond His Years When Addressing Critics Who Hate His Partying

Jack Grealish has responded to fans and pundits who criticised his antics following Manchester City's Premier League title win.

Grealish was part of the City side who were crowned Premier League champions last month and he hit the headlines with his appearance at their title parade.

The charismatic attacker clearly enjoyed himself and a number of videos on social media went viral.

A day later, he jetted off to Ibiza and was pictured with Wayne Lineker in his Ocean Beach club. Some used this as a stick to beat Grealish with however, claiming he should be more focused on his football.

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The 26-year-old addressed the critics in a recent interview with the Daily Mirror and spoke with great clarity and maturity.

"I'm doing what I have loved doing my whole life," he explained. "I'm the most expensive British player but I'm also the Jack from Solihull who my friends and family know. I'll never let that leave me, no matter what anyone says.

"I know people were saying last week, 'Oh, he's doing too much'. But what? I've just won the Premier League. It's a dream come true. Why can't I go on holiday?

"There's people that are at England with me now who went to Vegas, Ibiza, Marbella, all these places. No-one said a word, but because it was me, people were saying things."

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Grealish moved to City from boyhood side Aston Villa last summer and found it difficult to adapt to manager Pep Guardiola's system this campaign.

He was given a free role as Villa and was also club captain, meaning he was the star man for most of his time at Villa Park.

That's all changed at the Etihad and he'll have to follow Guardiola's style of play.

Grealish is away with the England national team this month and has turned his attention to big Nations League clashes with Hungary, Germany and Italy.

England will have a score to settle with Italy, who they were beaten by in the final of Euro 2020 last summer.

When asked about how it feels to live under media scrutiny, Grealish replied: "It's fine (being England's poster boy).

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"It is what it is. If that's what people think, that's fine. I think it's a good thing to have - and you just have to embrace it.

"I try not to let anything get to my head. It's all about enjoying it, as long as I'm enjoying myself, playing football and enjoying life off the pitch even; then I will perform well. Fingers crossed I can do that over the few weeks and few games."

Topics: Manchester City, Jack Grealish, England, Premier League

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a social editor for SPORTbible after moving from the writing team. Nearly scored past Stormzy at Old Trafford once.

@DanMarland_