Newcastle star Miguel Almiron has insisted that Jack Grealish's cheeky dig at him on the final day of last season is not the inspiration behind his remarkable upturn in form.
Manchester City won the title in dramatic circumstances on the final day of last season after coming from two goals down to beat Aston Villa. In the celebrations afterwards, a jubilant Grealish claimed that Riyad Mahrez needed to be taken off as he had "played like Almiron."
Those words have come back to haunt Grealish as he has been the butt of many jokes this season, with Almiron having completely turned his form around. The Paraguayan playmaker was named the Premier League's player of the month for October, won the goal of the month award and has eight goals to his name compared to the City man's solitary strike.
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However, when quizzed about the insult Almiron didn't take the chance to hit back. He told the Chronicle : "Would I shake his hand the next time we line up to play Man City? Yes. Yes, I would. Of course, I'd shake hands with him, whenever we play against Man City without a shadow of a doubt.
"Like I have said and as I keep on insisting to people Jack Grealish is a great player and I just wish him all the best. Throughout my career and for as long as I have played football, as long as I remember I have never really paid attention to what people say to me off the field. You just get on with your own job and that's it."
Almiron also explained how the comments actually made him happy due to the reaction of Newcastle supporters who defended him. "All that incident did really was highlight that when that type of thing happens here it shows the greatness of the Newcastle supporters," he added.
"I actually did not pay too much attention to the comments at first I will be honest because I prefer to just get on with my job and do my work in silence. I just get on with my work and the only thing that matters to me is to improve myself.
"When you achieve things in life it only comes through hard work and sacrifice anyway, especially in football, it's never through words. At the time when the (Grealish) stuff all came up, I was then filled with happiness and pride with the way the Newcastle supporters rallied around me. They showed their support at that point and it was really important."
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