Miguel Almiron was on a beach in the Maldives in May when he learned of Jack Grealish’s witless video and the crass attempt by the Manchester City midfielder to mock him. He may have been at sea level, but the Newcastle winger soon found higher ground.
‘I didn’t pay a lot of attention, I was on holiday with my family,’ says Almiron, dad to one-year-old Francesco. ‘And I didn’t have a mobile phone signal! So no, I didn’t watch the video. I wasn’t bothered.’
It was during City’s title-winning bus parade when his drunken detractor slurred about team-mate Riyad Mahrez ‘playing like Almiron’ before being substituted on the final day of the season against Aston Villa.