Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish has been linked to Manchester United for some time, so transfer narratives regarding his making a potential move to Old Trafford are nothing new. His name is often mentioned on sports news websites with regularity. However, today’s report is extremely unique and extraordinary, in light of global current events.
Grealish, who made a public service announcement this past weekend advising people to stay home admist the coronavirus pandemic, was caught the very next morning practicing the total opposite of what he preaches.
Grealish was involved in an auto accident, which occurred on a street where a loud all-night party raged. He has since apologized and said that he’s “deeply embarrassed” by his own actions. United are still interested, according to Paul Joyce of The Times who writes that Grealish “is expected to arrive [at Manchester United] from Aston Villa to add competition to the midfield.”
On Saturday, the Villans captain tweeted a video to his followers that said: “You must stay at home. Only leave your house to buy food, to buy medicine, or to exercise.”
The next morning, Grealish’s $100,000 Range Rover was involved in an accident that included two parked cars. AVFC fined Grealish, reportedly 150,000 pounds for this stupid, reckless act, and they released the following statement:
“Aston Villa is deeply disappointed that one of our players ignored the Government’s guidance on staying at home during the Coronavirus crisis.”
“Club Captain Jack Grealish has accepted that his decision to leave his house was wrong and entirely unnecessary.”
“It breached the government guidelines which are clear and should be adhered to by everybody.”
At this point, it’s not even about the football issues, or whether or not Grealish really fits in United’s midfield, how much he can improve it, etc. Obviously, he’s a special world class footballer, and that’s why he’s been on United’s radar for a long time.
However, life is a lot much bigger than just football, and these current trying times definitely drive that point home. Evaluation of the human being is much more important than evaluation of the footballer. It’s one thing that Grealish stupidly defied the government order, and put himself, not to mention others, at risk during the COVID-19 crisis.
It’s another thing entirely that he did so hours after advising so strongly against it. He’s exposed himself as a hypocrit, and thus, United should stay away.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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