A furious Dean Smith has banned his Aston Villa players from playing Fantasy Football after news leaked of Jack Grealish's injury when several of his teammates removed the Villa captain from their Fantasy teams.
Grealish missed Villa's 2-1 defeat to Leicester on Sunday, with the midfielder set to be out for around two to four weeks after suffering a shin injury.
But many already knew that thanks to Fantasy Football.
The Athletic reported that Matt Targett, Conor Hourihane [on loan at Swansea City] and Neil Taylor all transferred the 25-year-old out of their team before news of an injury was confirmed.
Other members of staff also did so, including physio Rob Marshall.
The news had leaked on Twitter that several Villa players alongside Marshall had transferred Grealish out of their team.
???? [AVL] Multiple insiders transferred OUT Grealish!
— FPL Insider (@insider_fpl) February 19, 2021
? [02-19] Matt Targett
? [02-19] Conor Hourihane
? [02-19] Neil Taylor
? [02-19] Scott (1st Team Performance Analyst)
? [02-18] Rob (Physio)#FPL #GW25
Villa have now banned players taking part in Fantasy Football while an investigation is underway as to the source of the leak.
A disgruntled Smith said after Sunday's 2-1 defeat that he was aware of the rumours and would not be happy on opponent's being given an advantage.
"I've been made aware that on social media there were some rumours that he wasn't going to play." he said. "If it's coming out of our training ground, then I find out where it is coming from and reprimand where it's coming from.
"Yeah, it certainly does [give a leg up] and it's something I wouldn't be happy with so we'll certainly get to the bottom of this."