On August 24, 2014, a fresh-faced Jack Grealish spent a large portion of his home Premier League debut on the floor during an eventful 15-minute cameo against Hull City.
The then-18-year-old, who also made his league bow during a 4-0 defeat against Manchester City at the Etihad in 2014, was given some well-deserved minutes against Steve Bruce's side as Villa tried to defend a slender 2-1 lead.
The youngster was brought on to inject some much-needed energy after Nikica Jelavic's goal just seconds earlier - and he did just that, running rings around the likes of Ahmed Elmohamady and Stephen Quinn.
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And in what has become the norm throughout his seven-year professional career, the youngster won a ridiculous amount of fouls during his short time on the pitch.
In fact, three Hull players received yellow cards within a 10-minute period after some seriously rough challenges.
BBC Match of the Day even ran a section dedicated to Grealish's ability to wins fouls, as pundits Brad Friedel, Martin Keown and Jason Roberts analysed his performance. You can see the footage below.
Grealish has certainly become accustomed to those types of challenges. In the 2019/20 campaign, he broke the record for being fouled more times than any other player in a single campaign (167).
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And during the 2020/21 season, he was once again crowned the most fouled Premier League player.
Despite some fans putting a negative slant on the most-fouled record, Grealish is proud of that tag.
When asked about being the most fouled player during an interview on the UMM YouTube channel, he said: "Facts. Big facts. Yeah, 'course.
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"I take it as a compliment, people say that I go down easily, but I don't feel like I dive - I know a lot of fans do."
Aston Villa manager Dean Smith admitted in the past that Grealish takes pleasure knowing the opposition want to kick him.
"He's really good at protecting the ball. I think he's got really good balance. He also gets targeted because he's a really good player," he said.
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"It doesn't [frustrate] him, but it does if they continually do it and not get cautioned. But, he takes pleasure knowing they want to kick him but he just gets up and gets on with it."
Should Jack Grealish start against Germany on Tuesday night? Can his ability to win fouls help England secure a place in the quarter-final stages of Euro 2020?
Let us know in the comments.
Featured Image Credit: YouTubeTopics: Manchester City, Aston Villa, Football, Jack Grealish, Premier League, Hull City
