Jack Grealish reacts when asked if he's joining Cardiff City | OneFootball

The England international spent over 24 hours in the Welsh capital this weekend

Manchester City and England midfield star, Jack Grealish, was among those in attendance for the final match of the Championship's opening weekend as Cardiff City played out a dramatic draw with Welsh rivals, Wrexham.

The encounter between the Bluebirds and Red Dragons was the first time the two sides had met as equals in 24 years, with Brian Barry-Murphy's team returning to the Championship at the first time of asking, whilst Phil Parkinson's team narrowly missed out on the play-off places last season.

As well as it being a nationwide contest, there were plenty of subplots to the encounter, such as Kieffer Moore's scoring record at the Cardiff City Stadium, which was further extended as the visitors took the lead inside the opening two minutes.

However, as well as the game having the earliest goal of the Championship season so far, it also had the latest, which came from a stunning free-kick from Rubin Colwill in the eighth minute of second half stoppage-time, which sent the Cardiff supporters into raptures.

Unsurprisingly, there were many talking points on the pitch given how both the Bluebirds and Wrexham fared, but just as big as that was a tongue-in-cheek comment made by Grealish, who previously shone at Championship level during his Aston Villa days.

Jack Grealish responds to joke question from Cardiff City fan at Wrexham clash

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In recent seasons, Grealish's career has gone down an interesting path, having signed from his boyhood club, Villa, for Manchester City for a then-record transfer fee for an English player at £100m.

Despite playing a crucial role in Pep Guardiola's 'treble' winning side of 2022/23 alongside the likes of Erling Haaland, the 30-year-old spent last season on loan at Everton, but featured as a substitute in City's 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Community Stadium on Sunday, which was played at the Principality Stadium rather than Wembley, with the usual event playing host to a series of concerts this summer.

Grealish's presence was noted by the Sky Sports cameras during live coverage, before being spotted by a host of Cardiff fans post-match.

One of them asked the playmaker, “Jack, is this a permanent deal or just a loan move?," to which he responded: “not sure yet!”

How social media reacted to viral Jack Grealish, Cardiff City clip

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Given Grealish's infectious personality, as well as what he does for charity away from the pitch, clips such as this where he is engaging with supporters of other clubs has attracted plenty of good-natured and rather humorous responses.

One of those read: "Nice to hear Smithy back in Wales," in reference to Neil Smith from the sitcom, Gavin and Stacey, who is played by West Ham supporter, James Corden.

"Love it! fair play Jack," was another reaction.

"Lovely fella always got time for people not part of the muggy headphones baller mob!," another response read.

Grealish, of course, is known for having a strong relationship with Cardiff's Callum Robinson from their Villa days, with a Bluebirds fan telling their attacker: @CallumRobinson7 have a word with your mate sell him the dream."

"He was there for @Wrexham_AFCnot Cardiff," joked a Nottingham Forest fan, given the Red Dragons' notoriety in recent years.

Jack Grealish will hope ex-Aston Villa teammate helps Cardiff enjoy Championship success

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Robinson and Grealish were part of the Villa academy side which won the NextGen series in Lake Como back in 2013, and both have gone on to have extremely strong careers, even though the former only has 48 top-flight appearances to his name with Sheffield United and West Bromwich Albion.

The 31-year-old attacker only featured in the final 10 minutes of Monday's contest, but in a youthful Cardiff side, could still play a huge role in ensuring survival for Barry-Murphy's side through his technical ability and leadership.

Even in Cardiff's relegation season, Robinson netted 12 goals in 34 games, but is now facing strong competition from a rejuvenated Yousef Salech, who will want to put recent injury issues behind him.