PLAYER PROFILE
JACOB GREAVES
HULL CITY DEFENDER
JACOB Greaves was 18 and yet to play a single minute of competitive football but Grant McCann had already seen enough.
“The kid is going to be special, it’s as simple as that,” said the former Northern Ireland midfielder, who was managing Hull when local boy Greaves emerged from the club’s youth system. “He has all the capabilities to go on and have a tremendous career.”
Four-and-a-half years on, Greaves is living up to the hype and will almost certainly spend next season playing at a higher level, irrespective of whether Hull win promotion to the Premier League.
Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Brentford all have a long-standing interest in the elegant central defender, whilst vice-chairman Tan Kesler claimed last summer that Italian giants Roma have also asked to be kept informed.
Born into a sporting family, Greaves’ father Mark spent six years at Hull and made over 200 appearances in a variety of positions. Centre-back was always his preference, however, and the art of defending was transferred to his son.
“He would practise headers with me and he tells me after games what I can improve on and what I’ve done well on,” said Greaves, who idolised ex-Tigers and current Manchester United defender Harry Maguire as a youngster. “He always loved being at the back and him playing centre-half helped me improve my positioning.”
If Greaves owes much to his father - and the genes that saw him shoot to 6ft 4ins in his mid-teens - he is also indebted to McCann, who recognised that the teenager needed to be fast-tracked into men’s football and in August 2019 packed him off on loan to Cheltenham to get “knocked about”.
Greaves excelled, winning the EFL Young Player of the Month award for September and going on to make 35 appearances in all competitions as the Robins finished fourth with the best defensive record in League Two.
Attitude
“He’s very calm on the ball, knows when to step in, when to hit the diagonal and when to give it simple,” said Cheltenham boss Michael Duff. “There’s no airs and graces, great attitude. I said from pretty much the first time I saw him that he’d go on to play at a very high level.”
The following season, Greaves played 39 times as Hull won promotion from League One and he has remained a fixture in the first-team ever since, surviving a lucrative overseas takeover, two changes of manager and an influx of international stars.
“He’s been magnificent for us
