ASTON Villa boss Dean Smith says skipper Jack Grealish ‘made a mistake’ by going to a lockdown party in March.
Smith spoke for the first time about the incident ahead of tonight’s Premier League return at Villa Park against Sheffield United.
Dean Smith says skipper Jack Grealish ‘made a mistake’ by going to a lockdown party in March
Grealish was seen talking to onlookers while wearing one black slipper and a white slip-on sandalCredit: Twitter
Grealish remains a key part of Smith’s plans even though the Villa manager insists he was ‘disappointed’ in the player.
And Smith says he wants on-loan Chelsea midfielder Danny Drinkwater – another player to step out of line at Villa – to be part of his squad until the end of June at least.
That is despite allegedly head-butting team-mate Jota in training and putting his spell with the club in doubt.
The Villa manager held talks with Grealish following the lockdown incident in which his Range Rover crashed into two parked cars and pictures appeared online of him at the scene wearing slippers.
It came less than a day after Grealish had appealed for people to stay at home.
Grealish issued an apology on video saying he was ‘deeply embarrassed’ – but he was branded a ‘Covidiot’ at the time.
He also raffled off his Villa shirt from last season’s win over Birmingham to raise over £50,000 for the NHS.
But Smith says he was far from happy at the time.
He made a mistake, he has been reprimanded and he will have learned from the mistake as well… I was disappointed with him but I was also disappointed for him.
Dean Smith
The Villa boss fined Grealish but says he has ‘learned’ from the controversy.
Smith had championed the player ever since taking over as Villa manager.
He made Grealish Villa captain last season and the player was edging towards an England call-up before Premier League campaign was suspended.
Smith recalled the incident which took place just days after the Government put the country into lockdown.
The Villa boss said: “I was disappointed.
“He made a mistake, he has been reprimanded and he will have learned from the mistake as well.
“I spoke to him at the time.
“I was disappointed with him but I was also disappointed for him.
“But the character of Jack is to learn from this mistake.
“And he will be a better player and a better person for it.”
Smith says the incident with Drinkwater was ‘sorted’ soon after it happened three months ago.
The Villa boss added: “There was an incident on the training ground that I wasn’t happy with and it’s been sorted.
“It got sorted at the time and Danny got reprimanded.
“It will be nothing more than what goes on at every other training ground.
“But Danny’s worked very hard during the lockdown period to build up his fitness.
“Because for someone who hasn’t played an awful lot of games in the last year and a half, that was what he needed to do.
“He needed to make sure that he got up to speed.”
Smith says Drinkwater and keeper Pepe Reina, on loan from Milan, can stay until the end of the month – and he wants them at the club longer if possible.
He added: “I don’t think it has to be done until the end of June so that will be with sporting director Suso and the secretary to sort out.
“I am keen for both of them to stay. We are allowed bigger squads now and a bigger subs bench. I am keen to have as many as I can.”
Villa manager Smith held talks with Grealish following the lockdown incident
Embarrassing Jack Grealish only apologised because he got caught and statement was ridiculous after crash, slams O’Hara
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
