Jack Grealish meets up with his ‘first football hero’ at Man City’s training ground… but can you recognise the iconic ex-Premier League striker?

• Jack Grealish was starstruck after recently meeting his childhood hero
• The Manchester City winger met a Premier League legend after training
• Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off!

Jack Grealish labelled a former Premier League star as his ‘first ever hero’ after the Manchester City winger shared an image of himself posing with the legend.

The England international is battling to force his way back into Pep Guardiola’s starting team after being relegated to the bench in the weekend win over Brighton and previously failing to make an appearance in the defeat to Arsenal before the international break.

City got back to winning ways in Saturday’s victory over 2-1 Roberto de Zerbi’s side as goals from Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland kept them top of the Premier League table.

Grealish is an avid social media poster and recently shared a selection of images to his 8.9million Instagram followers where he showcased some of his activities outside of football.

The 28-year-old captioned his post ‘outside the pitch’ and featured a former Aston Villa star in one of the images that immediately captured the attention of Premier League fans of yesteryear.

Jack Grealish poses for a photo with his childhood hero at Manchester City’s training ground

Grealish is attempting to force his way back into Pep Guardiola’s starting Man City team

Juan Pablo Angel starred for Villa during a six-year-spell between 2001 and 2007 before eventually leaving the English top-flight in favour of a move to the MLS.

The Colombian was renowned for his cool finishing and mazing runs and finished his Villa tenure with 62 goals in 205 appearances for the Midlands-based club.

Former Aston Villa star Juan Pablo Angel (middle) made 205 appearances for the Midlands-based club

Angel has since had his long, black mane of hair chopped off since retiring from football

It’s no surprise to see Grealish was enamoured by the 47-year-old after first starting at Villa and becoming a modern day legend at the club prior to joining Manchester City for £100m two-years ago.

The Man City star reshared the image on his Instagram story where he stated: ‘My first ever hero. If you know you know. There’s only Juan Pablo Angel.’

Angel has clearly been working on his style since retiring from professional football and fashioned a well-groomed beard while sporting a white shirt, black trousers, and a jumper tied around his shoulders.

During his time at Villa, Angel was known for his long, black, flowing hair but has since had his mane chopped off.

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