Watch Jack Grealish make surprise return to his old Solihull school before World Cup

Former Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish made a surprise return to his old school in Solihull before heading to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup with England.

The Manchester City midfielder released a video on his social media which was filmed with i-D, in which he discusses his rise from Solihull schoolboy to one of the nation’s most talked about footballers.

In the piece, which you can watch on Youtube, here, Grealish touches on his upbringing, his school days at St Peter’s Catholic School secondary, and the impact his parents had on his career as well as fashion and realising his dreams with Aston Villa and England.

The former Villa skipper has had a positive impact from the bench for Gareth Southgate’s side at the World Cup so far. He scored in the 6-2 opening group game against Iran, and England looked more threatening when Grealish came off the bench 25 minutes from time during the 0-0 draw with USA on Friday.

What did Grealish say in the video?

Speaking about his first football experiences as a child, Grealish says: “Back when I was young you couldn’t start playing until under 7s. My brother was two years older than me, so he was under 7s.

“And obviousy I was under 5s at the time. So I couldn’t play for a team, but I started playing for my brother’s team, Highgate United.

“Some family used to say I used to run the show, and I was only five at the time. I never thought truthfully I’d be where I am now, and that’s why sometimes it’s so nice coming back to places like this, just to reflect on how far i’ve come.

“My dream was always to play for Aston Villa - and once I’d played for Villa it was to become Aston Villa captain, I became Villa captain and then it was to play for England and I played for England, then it was to obviously play in a major tournament and I played at the Euros.

“And then now it’s to play in a World Cup. My family have always been there for me, the way my mum and dad are, and they would have done whatever I wanted to do for me to be happy. Luckily for me, I’d always just had a ball at my feet. My mum would always be going mad becuase I’d always be smashing stuff around the house, but my dad just encouraged it really.”

He added: “When you were young, you’d go for an away game when you were under 8s or under 9s, and I used to say to my dad ‘Come on let me go on the coach with my friends’ and he’d always be like ‘No because i’m coming, so it’d just be me and my dad driving and he’d come to everywhere honestly and yeah, it just set our relationship up really for the rest of my life, and that’s why i’m so close with my dad now.”

Grealish’s dad Kevin also features in the video. You can watch the iD video on Youtube, here.