Gregg Evans of The Athletic has been discussing a variety of topics relating to Aston Villa during a recent edition of the 1874 podcast, one of which was an exchange that took place between Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne following England’s defeat in Belgium on Sunday night.
The Villa man was the ‘outstanding performer’ for Gareth Southgate’s side and after the match, he revealed that he watches videos of the Manchester City star, who is valued at a whopping £108 million (as per Transfermarkt), in order to try and enhance his game further (as per the Daily Mail).
As well as impressing on the international stage, Grealish has enjoyed an excellent start to the Premier League campaign, averaging a performance rating of 8.18/10 (as per WhoScored).
Speaking on the podcast, Evans described the aforementioned post-match exchange between the two creative players. Here is what he had to say:
“It was a nice little moment after the game, the two of them swapping shirts, because you looked at them and you thought, well, that’s what Grealish is aspiring to be like – Kevin De Bruyne – on a regular basis. And on the night, he was better than Kevin De Bruyne; I still think he’s got a little bit of time to go before we can say that he’s at that level.
“He’s certainly got qualities that De Bruyne would be looking at and thinking, you know, ‘I’d love to have that that ball-carrying ability, the way he just dazzles past players and holds opponents off.’ I think Grealish does that better than probably anyone in the Premier League at the moment. So yeah, it was a nice little moment seeing the two of them, and you wonder what the two of them would look like if they were ever in the same team. It’d be quite frightening.”
Can Jack Grealish go on to become as good as Kevin De Bruyne?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on Gregg Evans’ comments regarding Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne…
In just seven Premier League appearances this season, the Birmingham-born 25-year-old has already scored four goals and provided six assists (as per Transfermarkt), contributing greatly to Aston Villa’s impressive position in the table of sixth, despite having played a game fewer than most of the division.
As such, it is no wonder he is being discussed as being in the same league as the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, however, in our view, Evans is correct in suggesting Grealish will need to perform at this level for a while longer before we can say he is as good as the Belgian, a two-time Premier League winner.