Dan Bardell has dismissed suggestions Jack Grealish is already thinking about life away from Aston Villa.
Dean Smith’s side suffered their 20th Premier League defeat of the season at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, leaving them in the relegation zone with just five games remaining.
During a recent episode of The Villa View podcast, journalist Dan Bardell has insisted that Grealish has not already “checked out” of the club in response to a listener question. Bardell said: “I don’t think he’s checked out at all. Jack Grealish doesn’t want to leave Aston Villa football club in the Championship. That’s the absolute last thing he’d want.
“I think he’s the last person that should be getting picked on. I’ve seen a lot of things on social media of people saying he’s checked out and he’s not trying hard – it’s a load of rubbish. To be honest, he’s working as hard as anyone out there but as a team, we aren’t good enough.
“You can’t ask him to carry us every single game because it isn’t going to happen. He gets the ball and sometimes you can tell he thinks ‘I ain’t got anything to pass to here so I may as well go on my own’ and he ends up doing too much. There just isn’t the quality around him. If we had more people like Jack Grealish we wouldn’t be down the bottom of the league so I think to have a go him is an absolute farce, to be honest.”
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The attacking midfielder has made 36 appearances for the Villans this season contributing nine goals and eight assists. His average performance rating in the Premier League this season currently stands at 7.24/10, making him Villa’s most consistent performer since the start of the campaign.
Grealish’s impressive performance rating suggests he has been one of the few positives in what has been a disappointing season for the Birmingham-based club so far, therefore, we agree with Bardell – asking questions of his attitude and commitment levels feels harsh.