Gategrashing a Kevin De Bruyne interview last year, Jack Grealish leant into camera shot and said: "I'll win one of these next year."
It was May 2022, and Grealish was coming to the end of a frustrating debut season at Manchester City after his £100m move from Aston Villa. Performances were improving, but slowly, and Grealish himself would admit later that month that the adaptation period at the Etihad was much harder than he expected.
Still, for a below-par season, he still picked up a Premier League winner's medal, and since coming back to the club in the summer, he has been one of City's best players of the season. Now, he's finally won the award he wanted in May.
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Named City's Player of the Month for the first time, Grealish has done what he told the camera nine months ago, and arguably should have won it earlier. Since returning from the World Cup, he's started to add more goals and assists to his game, scoring or providing at Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford, the Emirates, and away at RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola has said Grealish is in too good form to drop at the minute, and it says everything that despite Phil Foden's brilliance on the left at Bristol City in the FA Cup, Grealish returned for his tenth start on the left in 11 games. Riyad Mahrez has been in equally-good form, but it's between Mahrez and Foden to fight for a right-wing spot at the moment. Grealish is undoubtedly City's first choice on the left.
He deserves credit for knuckling down over the summer, and while he won't be remembered for winning the February Player of the Month award, it shows how far he has come in a short space of time. He's City's go-to man at the moment, finally providing the consistency that his manager craves from his forwards.
That is the kind of trait that wins the individual awards, and in turn, they lead to more collective success, or even a bigger individual gong at the end of the season.
Grealish may have competition on his hands to be named Player of the Year - notably from 33-goal striker Erling Haaland - but the fact he can be legitimately considered is a huge positive. And with the mentality he has shown all season, don't expect Grealish to stop here.
He'll be saving a place for bigger trophies on his mantelpiece.
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