OPINION: Jack Grealish can be the modern-day entertainer the Premier League needs

There are some players so exciting that they raise the heartbeat of those watching whenever they get the ball, and back at the start of the 2020s, Grealish was such a player. 

After almost single-handedly taking his boyhood club back to the promised land, he'd made his mark in his first Premier League season as a senior player at Aston Villa in 2019/2020, getting eight goals and five assists, and followed that up with six goals and 10 assists in 26 league games the following campaign.

However, numbers don't really do justice to what a sensation he was. In an era where data was becoming more and more prominent, he remained one of the few players that you'd just have to watch to fully grasp his talents. 

While he usually started on the left, he was given a free role and thrived in it, roaming around the pitch to pick up the ball and immediately looking to do something with it, usually driving towards the opposition goal before getting a shot away or trying to play in one of his teammates. 

There were precious few more exciting sights in English football than Grealish running with the ball at his feet. Thanks to his exquisite control, agility, and sheer fearlessness, he'd dance past most defenders who tried to stop him.

Unsurprisingly then, a number of England's biggest clubs were keen on signing him, and Manchester City ultimately secured his services in the summer of 2021 for a fee of around £100 million, making him the most expensive English player ever and the fifth-most expensive in the history of the game. 

It was hoped that, managed by Pep Guardiola and surrounded by better players, he'd take his already exhilarating game to the next level, but while he's been somewhat successful at the Etihad, he's no longer getting people off their seats.

Instead, he's become a cog in a well-oiled machine, usually tasked with hugging the touchline on the left and holding up the ball to give his teammates the time and space they need.

When he gets the ball these days, he more often than not tries to win a foul or play a simple pass to keep things ticking over, in sharp contrast to the direct and dangerous manner in which he played at Villa. 

Fun, flair and freedom have been firmly replaced by functionality, but the Englishman proved in the international break that the old maverick is still in there somewhere.

Back when he was working his magic at Villa, Grealish was the player that every man and his dog in England wanted to see in the national team, with Gareth Southgate being heavily criticised for not starting him regularly at Euro 2020 and there being a buzz of excitement across the country every time he came off the bench. 

He managed to get himself into the starting XI for the World Cup in 2022 but failed to impress and was dropped from the squad altogether for the Euros last summer after a poor campaign at City.

However, he was recalled by interim manager Lee Carsley for the first international break of the new season, and it's fair to say he took his chance.

Carsley started him in midfield for the match against Ireland and, being given more freedom than he is for his club, he produced one of his best performances in a long time, getting his first goal since December and being a real creative force.

Playing as the team's number 10, he roamed around and caused havoc in the area between the left flank and the centre of the pitch as he did for years at Villa, creating two major chances and finishing cooly from the edge of the box after drifting in from that space.

He was used in the same role against Finland and was excellent again, creating another two clear-cut chances and causing the opposition big problems whenever he got on the ball.

In both games, he finally looked like the player that had excited so many all those years ago, and that's a player that the Premier League could very much do with right now.

Pragmatism is the name of the game in England's top flight these days, with last year's top two both fielding first-choice XIs that consist of four central defenders and various other managers deploying highly structured systems that limit the freedoms of their players.

Fans are becoming so disillusioned with the more regimented nature of the game that during the international break, social media has been taken over by compilations of so-called 'Barclaysmen' - Premier League stars from yesteryear who were free from the shackles of the modern game and dazzled with tricks, flicks and wondergoals as a result.

Right now, there aren't too many players in the league who you can imagine people making such montages of in 10 years or so, but Grealish could be one of them.

If he can get himself into an environment where he's allowed to express himself again, he can become one of the modern-day showmen that the top flight is so desperately crying out for.