Newcastle United's Miguel Almiron has insisted that a derogatory comment made about him by Manchester City's Jack Grealish is not the reason for his upturn in form.
The Paraguay international has been a standout performer in the Magpies' push for Champions League football with eight goals in 14 Premier League matches in the 2022-23 campaign.
Almiron only found the back of the net once in his first seven games of the season, but the 28-year-old has since scored seven in as many outings in the top flight.
Almiron has netted in each of Newcastle's last four wins over Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Southampton, a run of form which saw him awarded October's Premier League Player of the Month award.
However, the former Atlanta man initially struggled to hit top gear at St James' Park, and he was the subject of a controversial dig from Grealish at the end of last season.
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During Man City's title parade, Grealish was asked by Bernardo Silva about the secret to their title-clinching success over former club Aston Villa, who had gone 2-0 up at the Etihad before City stormed back to win 3-2.
Referring to a below-par performance from Riyad Mahrez on the day, Grealish responded: "Riyad, take him off the pitch as soon as possible. He played like Almiron yesterday!"
The South American's eye-catching run of goals has unsurprisingly seen Grealish become the butt of the joke, but Almiron sees no link between his performances and the Englishman's comment and would gladly shake his hand that the next time Man City and Newcastle lock horns.
Speaking to The Chronicle, Almiron said: "Would I shake his hand the next time we line up to play Man City? Yes. Yes, I would. Of course, I'd shake hands with him, whenever we play against Man City without a shadow of a doubt.
"Like I have said and as I keep on insisting to people Jack Grealish is a great player and I just wish him all the best. Throughout my career and for as long as I have played football, as long as I remember I have never really paid attention to what people say to me off the field.
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"You just get on with your own job and that's it. All that incident did really was highlight that when that type of thing happens here it shows the greatness of the Newcastle supporters.
"I actually did not pay too much attention to the comments at first I will be honest because I prefer to just get on with my job and do my work in silence. I just get on with my work and the only thing that matters to me is to improve myself.
"When you achieve things in life it only comes through hard work and sacrifice anyway, especially in football, it's never through words. At the time when the (Grealish) stuff all came up, I was then filled with happiness and pride with the way the Newcastle supporters rallied around me. They showed their support at that point and it was really important."
Almiron now boasts a total of 22 goals and five assists from 138 games for Newcastle, who face Chelsea on Saturday in their final Premier League game before the World Cup.
Having taken the Magpies to third in the Premier League table with five wins and a draw from six games in October, Eddie Howe was also named the Manager of the Month.
Ben Knapton
