Jack Grealish has been backed to thrive against Inter Milan despite potential dirty tricks from the Italians.
Manchester City’s England ace has hit top form this term to help Pep Guardiola’s men to within tantalising reach of the treble and their Champions League dream. But Serie A outfit Milan, fresh from winning a second consecutive Coppa Italia, will be stubborn opponents in the final in Istanbul tonight.
In the semi-finals Real Madrid right-back Daniel Carvajal tried and failed to subdue Grealish as Guardila’s side brushed them aside 4-1 on aggregate.
And Aston Villa’s former academy chief Bryan Jones admits countless opponents have tried similar rough tactics since Grealish was aged 15 in their youth set-up. Jones, who retired in 2014 after an association with Villa dating back to the mid-1970s, reflected: “It will be an interesting game.
"Inter Milan technically aren’t the side they used to be five-10 years ago. But they are Italian and will defend solidly and pay Jack plenty of attention. He has had that since he became a 15-year-old who was known though. A lot of sides tended to try and double mark him.
"He tended to play wide on the left side back then too and in those days he was almost unplayable at that level. He used to get some stick - players would target him.
"When you get into a youth set up - everybody is trying to impress their own coaches. Opposition players felt they would try and frighten Jack to death, that happened quite often.
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Manchester City FC via Getty Ima)“But he was too clever and too good for them. It will be interesting to see how the Italians cope with him. But he is very disciplined now - especially in his defensive duties as you have seen recently.
"I expect Jack will start, Phil Foden seems to be just off the mark at the moment for whatever reason since his injury. Riyad Mahrez, Pep seems to just put him on in the less important games as talented as he is. It says a lot for what Pep expects of Jack and what Jack has done for him.”
Jones reckons his proudest moment was when seven of his graduates played for Villa in a 2-2 draw at home with Manchester United in 2010 in the Premier League. But Grealish’s success is still a huge thrill for Jones, who also celebrated when Villa old boy Gary Cahill won the Champions League in 2012 with Chelsea.
Jones added: "When we played Manchester United and we had so many academy players , the feeling of that, you thought it all worth the time and the expense.
"We had some great coaches and we got the just rewards from it. If the kids could manipulate the ball, I couldn’t care what size the player was. I remember Jack going to Hong Kong with us for a seven-a-side tournament. We took all our top players over the years like Gareth Barry, Steven Davis and Barry Bannan.
"When Jack went he was absolutely outstanding. I think he was probably giving a year and a half away too. The people who ran it actually said: ‘you know BJ, Jack of all the stars you have brought over here, this one is your best one’. I agreed he had magical talent but there was still a lot of work to do.
"I replied: 'time will tell' and it has.”