Jack Grealish responds to ‘unfair’ criticism after Kevin De Bruyne claim

Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish has responded to a suggestion that he is among a group of players unfairly targeted by the English media.

That claim was made by his Man City teammate Kevin De Bruyne, who said there is a mentality in England of unfairly criticising players. De Bruyne was speaking after City’s 3-0 win over Wolves, during which Grealish scored his first goal of the season.

De Bruyne had said: “Outside of football, the focus is more on them [English players]. I understand because they are English and people tend to look more what is happening. I feel like foreign players, for instance if you have a night out, we don’t really get checked that often.

“Whereas I feel if an English player goes out, it is always in the media somewhere. I think people are taking this on board also. What he does in his private life he does, nobody should care, but people do.”

Speaking from the England camp ahead of their Nations League fixtures with Italy and Germany, Grealish was asked about the comments and immediately threw the question back to the reporters, saying: “I’ll ask you, do you [think I’m unfairly targeted]? I don’t know – I want to be friends with you all! I can obviously see where he’s coming from a little bit. But I think that’s just the way it is in this country, especially if you’re myself, playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world, who are winning trophies every single year.

“And obviously when I have the price tag on my head that I have, people are going to want to talk. It’s just something that I need to (get on with). I keep going back to it, saying embrace it and it’s just part and parcel, really. But, yeah, I do see where he’s coming from a little bit.”

“Before I moved to City I knew I was going to play pretty much every minute of every game. I was captain there and one of the first names on the team sheet. Then you come to a club like City and obviously no disrespect to the people I was with at Villa – it was a great, brilliant club with very good players – but when you come to City and have the likes of Kevin, Phil, I could go on, it’s difficult. We’ve even got a full-back at the moment in Joao Cancelo who I reckon is one of the best wingers in the world!

“It’s obviously different, difficult at times. When I was at Villa I played every game and you felt like you were in a rhythm. But you’re going to get that when you’re playing at a club with so many top players. As long as we’re training well and playing well it’s alright.”