The Manchester City and England forward can lay claim to being Gen Z’s answer to David Beckham
Jack Grealish: ‘part Love Island contestant, part pretty boy’ CREDIT: Getty
Perhaps it’s the floppy hair. Perhaps it’s the himbo king energy (that was Twitter’s phrase, not mine, I hasten to add), but something about 27-year-old England player Jack Grealish has tempted Puma to part with a reported £10 million per season for him to wear their football boots for the next five years.
It’s rumoured to be the most lucrative deal ever given to a British football player, perhaps for that specific chunk of time – David Beckham’s 2003 lifetime deal with Adidas was for £115 million. But it’s certainly significant, and means he’ll swap his Nike swooping ticks – he’s been sponsored by them since he was a teenager – for the leaping Puma emblem.
Grealish has penned a deal with Puma reported to be the most lucrative ever given to a British footballer CREDIT: Getty
They aren’t the first to form an alliance; last year he became a Gucci ambassador, joining a rather unlikely line up alongside Jared Leto and Harry Styles. Certainly, the boyish Mr Grealish – whose muscled calves have their own Instagram account with a 13,000+ following – loves fashion in a way that calls to mind 1990s David Beckham.
Marcus Rashford might pose for Burberry, but Grealish happily goes all out in myriad brands; Gucci tracksuits, Louis Vuitton accessories and Givenchy and Balenciaga logomania (prior to the house’s child abuse advertising scandal).
Again, that a newly wealthy footballer wears flashy labels is straight from the Premier League playbook. Even pre-Beckham, there was David James acting as the face of Emporio Armani. But Grealish taps into a new market for fashion brands: Gen Z
Grealish has almost six million followers on Instagram, and his brand of masculinity is a happy antidote to the toxic one that’s dominated sportsmen in the past. Even Beckham has lost his lustre recently, forming an unholy alliance with Qatar to promote it in the run up the World Cup. Which is hypocritical, given that Mr Posh was happy to milk his “gay icon” status while it suited him until Qatar – where homosexuality is illegal – waved a reported $150 million (£126 million) cheque.
So it makes sense for a stylish young guy to take his place, with a signature sweep of hair that’s likened him to Keira Knightley in Bend It Like Beckham, kept in place with a Nike Swoosh hair band that’s ubiquitous amongst teenage boys. He follows in a long line-up of footballers with statement hair – those honeyed streaks – so knows how to play the game in more ways than one.
Grealish is no stranger to a designer label CREDIT: Getty
It’s not that he’s stylish per se – former Arsenal defender Héctor Bellerin looks much cooler, a cross between a Paris Fashion Week model and a Luca Guadagnino leading character – but Grealish is the inoffensive everyman you could easily take home to your mum. There’s nothing to frighten the fashion horses – unlike Bellerin in his cutting edge streetwear – and his sporty hoodies are as happily in place at your local Harvester as they are on the high fashion front row.
The footballer is an innocuous “cheeky chappie”, which is catnip to your average sports brand eager to capture a market of young men with spare cash to spend who will happily swap the Stone Island or Carhartt for something endorsed by a grinning Grealish.
He’s part Love Island contestant, part pretty boy, and a safe, smiley pair of hands for a brand hoping to tap into a Gen Z market.