Heartwarming moment Jack Grealish is surprised by a young Aston Villa fan asking for his signature – as the winger asks ‘you still like me though?’ after leaving boyhood club for £100m Man City move

A heartwarming moment came after Manchester City’s open training session in Florida on Monday when Jack Grealish was surprised by an Aston Villa fan who ran onto the pitch to ask for his autograph.

City have suffered defeats in both of their opening pre-season friendlies, losing 4-3 to Celtic last week and then 3-2 to AC Milan on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola’s team will play his old club Barcelona in Florida on Tuesday night. The team is busy trying to make up for the two previous defeats in America.

After Monday’s open training session, several players went out to sign autographs, with Grealish being surprised by a young supporter wearing an Aston Villa shirt.

The fan ran towards the City winger, dressed in his burgundy and blue shirt, as Grealish said: “Are you a Villa fan?” To which the supporter appeared to reply: “Yes.”

The moment came during Man City’s open training session in Florida on Monday afternoon

In 2021, Grealish became the first English footballer to cost £100million after his historic move from boyhood club Villa to Man City.

The 28-year-old then said to the young supporter: “You still like me?” To which the fan appeared to say “Yes” again, before Grealish smiled and signed his shirt.

While the Man City players look set to work hard on their pre-season tour of the United States, they have also been enjoying several tourist attractions in Florida. For example, a group of players visited Universal Studios Orlando last weekend.

A video posted to City’s official X account (formerly Twitter) showed a group including Erling Haaland and Grealish having a conversation with an animatronic Donkey from Shrek at the theme park.

Donkey appears to joke with Grealish about the size of his calves, saying he’s impressed with them, before telling the winger he looks like Lord Farquaad from the iconic DreamWorks film.

Grealish (left) appeared to ask the Villa fan ‘if they still liked him’ despite the winger leaving his boyhood club to join Man City in 2021

The pair shook hands after the foodballer signed the supporter’s Aston Villa shirt

Grealish was also pictured enjoying some time off in the United States this week, following a trip to Universal Studios where he met actors who played Shrek, Fiona and Donkey

However, Grealish appears to have worked hard to get back into top form this summer.

The announcement follows a disappointing season for the City star, which has been marred by injuries, with Grealish also missing from Gareth Southgate’s squad for England’s Euro 2024 campaign.

The 28-year-old player has been working on his fitness in recent weeks and has been training independently in Portugal.

And it seems his rejection by England has been a motivation for the former Aston Villa star, with Grealish admitting he was “heartbroken” at not being called up to play for the Three Lions in Germany.

“Ultimately it’s up to me,” Grealish said. “I have to train well and prepare well, then I know I’ll be at my best.”

“I’ll be honest, it was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my own career. I was absolutely devastated,” he said of his absence from Southgate’s team.

The 28-year-old returned to pre-season training ahead of his team-mates as he hopes to improve on his disappointing 2023-24 campaign

Grealish (right) has played in both of Man City’s opening pre-season games, with his side suffering a defeat to AC Milan and a loss to Celtic

‘When you’re on vacation, wherever I was, I saw it. For myself, I have to use that as motivation to keep going.

“I will try to have the same mentality as two years ago. In my first season at City I didn’t perform as well as I could have. The second I played a lot of games. I wanted to come back stronger.”