Agreed mate.
I'm as traumatised as anyone by watching zero creativity and hoofing and clogging to draws and getting by.
But, you do have to wonder about commitment and focus and motivation.
Plus the absolute fortune in cost of a loan plus wages.
Oh, I share your concerns. I was never a Grealish fan - and it's nothing to do with me being Irish. He had a chance to play for England and Ireland - and took the side with the better chance of success. Seems logical to me. My son is half-German. When the male nurse attending his birth congratulated me and asked me whether he'd play for Ireland or Germany, I told him it depends if it's soccer or rugby...
So, unlike some of my fellow countrymen, I have no beef with Jack on that score.
What I do have an issue with, however, is how he was depicted in Irish tabloids in his Villa days, in particular - plastered face-down, comatose in Ibiza on the front of every newspaper. He was about 20 at the time. I thought it remarkably stupid for a pro - even a young one - to behave like that in full public view. I sort of wrote him off as the great Irish hope at that point. Has he changed? I don't know. He's certainly garnered a bit of a reputation for the high life. I mean, Declan Rice was the other great hope, and I don't recall him gaining such a rep.
So, yeah, I think caution is well advised. But the football fan in me wants to put away my textbooks from the London School of Economics and my moralising, and imagine him as a catalyst for a bright new era.
Every chance this move goes badly wrong, in my view, but the upside is tantalising and arguably worth the risk given he can be handed back next summer without permanent damage to the books.
We need a statement signing to signal a new era. He looks to be the best option we have right now.
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