NOTTINGHAM FOREST winger Jota Silva hopes to come face-to-face with his Premier League “double” at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.
Since he arrived at the City Ground, Silva has been labelled an “Aldi middle aisle Grealish”.
The player’s Wikipedia page was even doctored last month to show ‘Grealish’ as one of his middle names – although that has now been deleted.
And Portugal team-mate Bernardo Silva joked he would try to smuggle the Forest wide man into City’s training ground one day – to see if Pep Guardiola notices the difference.
On Wednesday, he hopes to have a chat with the £100million England midfielder – but says his loyalties are firmly with Forest.
Silva told SunSport: “This has been going around for a while now – I can’t deny there are similarities.
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“But we are different types of players – different styles.
“The hair and the low socks give rise to the story.
“But Jack is a great player – and to be compared to him is an honour.”
He admitted Bernardo’s training ground suggestion happened while on international duty.
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Silva added: “We did have a joke about that while we were away with Portugal.
“But Forest is the club I’m at, and the one I’ll be representing.
“Maybe I’ll get chance to have a word with Jack at the City game.”
One fan took to social media to highlight the similarities between the two players earlier this season, writing: “When you buy Jack Grealish from the middle aisle in Aldi.”
It generated a hilarious response from the supermarket’s page which read: “Must be a banging player then!!”
Forest’s resurgence under boss Nuno Espirito Santo has coincided with the biggest blip of Guardiola’s Man City reign.
Their defeat at Liverpool on Sunday means it is now seven games without a win for City – with Forest just a point behind in sixth place.
But Nuno says he is not fooled by City’s run – and says Guardiola is a revolutionary manager.
The Forest boss said: “Pep is one of the managers the rest of us look at.
“He is in the small group of managers that were able to influence the game – and that says a lot.
“Their run doesn’t take away the quality and the talent they have.
“Let’s not forget, they are the champions and they have won so much with such quality players and such a good manager. When you have such quality players and play such good football, for sure they will turn it around.”
Nuno says poor runs of form are inevitable.
He added: “It’s the reality of the game – you always have ups and downs.
“Every team has to be ready to face those moments of uncertainty when things are not going well.
“It’s how long you stay there and how you bounce back from those moments that counts.”
Nuno was also asked about the comparison between Jota and Grealish.
And he was quick to explain why they should not be lumped together, saying: “The similarity is obvious. But Jota is different. There is no point comparing the qualities of the players.
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“We are very happy with him. This is what we want from our squad.
“This is how we want to play – knowing that all the players that come in have an impact.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
