Before talk turns to one big England game and Manchester City’s pursuit of three trophies, Jack Grealish needs to discuss 16 scoops of ice cream.
The conversation had started in a routine manner. Grealish had been asked how he had banished the disappointment of losing to France in the World Cup quarter-finals and he began to explain how three days in Dubai were followed by five days in New York.
Then, in that way of his, he smiled mischievously and there was a twinkle in his eye. Grealish is always prepared to go off at an unexpected tangent when the mood takes hold, so here he was revealing, with boyish enthusiasm, how a Home Alone experience lifted the post-Qatar gloom.