Ex-Chelsea, Liverpool playmaker backs EPL wonderkid bad boy to come good ahead of Man City bout

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Coventry City playmaker Joe Cole has backed Aston Villa‘s Jack Grealish to turn his career around despite a tough few months.

Grealish shone in patches last season under Tim Sherwood, featuring in the FA Cup under his former mentor, and looked set to be a ray of light for Villa this season.

However, in a remarkably testing campaign for the club, Grealish has struggled to make an impression, and has wholly failed to build on his encouraging showings last season.

Indeed, the playmaker—who was once tipped as an outside bet for England’s Euro 2016 squad—now looks set to drop into the Championship with his hometown club next season.

However, the 20-year-old has received the backing of another of his former mentors—Cole—with the former England midfielder, speaking ahead of the Villains’ FA Cup match against Manchester City on Sunday, insisting that the Villa prodigy can still come good.

“Jack is a good lad and he will turn it around. Every player will experience being left out of the team and it is how you bounce back. It is a part of your development,” Cole insisted, as per the Mirror.

“The biggest bit of advice to give to any player is we can all walk and talk in victory and glory when everyone is slapping high fives.

“But it is where you stand when the chips are down that is the making of the man I think. I think he is a good lad and he will bounce back.

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“He will play himself into the team. He is still a kid, he is 20 and has it all ahead of him – there are years left for him to kick on and play.”

Cole left Villa earlier in the season to switch to League One Coventry City, and could be primed to come head-to-head with his former teammate in the Championship next season, with the fifth-placed Sky Blues currently right in the hunt for a spot in the second tier.

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