Manchester City star Jack Grealish has admitted he found himself scared by a camel after arriving in Qatar for the World Cup. The England squad headed to the host country earlier this week ready for their first match against Iran on Monday.
Grealish is one of the squad’s poster boys, known for being flamboyant, but he found himself in over his head when climbing onto a camel - surprised at how ‘big’ it was.
The player, who is appearing at his second major tournament, admitted to TalkSport about his fear he experienced, The Mirror reports.
He said: “We all got given flowers. I haven’t put them in a vase yet. There was a camel and that as well, I got on the camel’s back, there was a bird, I don’t know what bird it was. The camel fully stood up, I was so high, I was scared. I got on it but I didn’t think it would go as high as it did because I didn’t realise how big it would be and when it stood up it was so big.”
Grealish has also been opening up on the little touches in and around England's luxury base in Qatar. The squad could be out in the Middle East for over a month and, in an effort to make the players feel more at home, steps have been taken to help them settle.
“There’s all photo frames around our rooms of our families and it just makes it a little bit more homely," added the City star. "I think our families filled out some questionnaires like what aftershave and asking them to send photos and stuff like that so we got to our rooms last night and there was all that little stuff making it feel a little more homely.”
Grealish faces plenty of competition for a starting berth with England, who are looking to improve on their semi-final appearance in Russia four years ago. The former Aston Villa star is still trying to establish himself at City, having joined them 18 months ago, and has been used sporadically by Southgate.
There were huge calls for the playmaker to be given more minutes at the Euros last summer, but he remains behind several key men in the pecking order. Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Mason Mount have all been preferred under the current regime.
Grealish has previously said he "feels like I play with a lot more freedom" in the England environment, confessing that he plays it too safe at times at club level.
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