Grealish reveals his dad had to give a FAKE name to Man United scouts

Manchester City star Jack Grealish has revealed that his dad gave a fake name to Manchester United scouts when they showed interest in the youngster.

The 26-year-old won his first major honour with City on Sunday but revealed his dad had to come up with a quick-witted way of avoiding interest from local rivals United when he was a member of Aston Villa’s Under-10 side.

Grealish signed for Aston Villa when he was six before officially starting with the club’s Under-10 side three years later.

After joining Villa’s academy the England international was supposed to leave his Sunday League team, Highgate United, but he couldn’t resist returning for a small tour with his former side.

While on tour, he attracted the interest of a few big sides, including United, but claimed his dad gave a fake name to the scouts to avoid being caught out.

Speaking to The Face, he said: ‘You’re not actually meant to go back and play with your old team, but they were doing a little tour down in Devon and we played against some team in the group stages. We won 4-0 and I scored all four.

‘That was when people were like: “OK, this kid’s good.”

‘Then I got scouted by other teams like Man United, West Brom and Birmingham City. But [at] those times I was contracted to Villa, so I shouldn’t have been playing. When they came up to my dad, he’d have to give a fake name!’