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Rob Dawson, CorrespondentSep 6, 2024, 04:30 AM ET
Pep Guardiola had a simple message for Jack Grealish when he returned to Manchester City this summer, having been left out of England‘s squad for Euro 2024. His omission was a surprise — not least to Grealish himself, as well as the brand of mayonnaise that had made him the face of its summer advertising campaign — but Guardiola did his best to turn it into a positive.
“Sometimes you need something to ignite yourself to be better,” Guardiola said when asked about then-England manager Gareth Southgate’s decision. The hope is that if there’s an upside to Grealish missing out on the tournament in Germany, then it’s City who feel the benefit.
Grealish isn’t a stranger to suggestions he has something to prove. It was the same in 2019 as he prepared for his first season back in the Premier League with Aston Villa. He faced similar questions in 2021 as well, after City had spent £100 million to make him the most expensive British footballer ever; there were more doubts a year later, after a modest first season at the Etihad Stadium, about whether he could cut it under Guardiola.
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Grealish has taken a proactive approach to the new season, using Juventus‘ training facilities while on holiday in Italy to ensure he came back to City in the best shape possible. He also declined the offer of an extended break to return to the City Football Academy (CFA) headquarters early. On the club’s preseason tour of the U.S., he even spoke about “proving people wrong.”
Guardiola has been impressed, particularly with Grealish’s training efforts in America, and he would have started against Manchester United in the Community Shield and against Chelsea in City’s first Premier League game had it not been for an injury picked up a couple of days before the trip to Wembley.
“I’ve loved it,” said Guardiola when asked about Grealish’s summer. “It’s every session: his commitment and his trying, his aggression with the ball, that’s all. After that, his quality will do the rest. Hopefully he can sustain it until the end of the season.”
And there lies Grealish’s challenge. By his own admission, last season didn’t go as planned, largely because of a combination of nagging injuries and a loss of confidence. He played well in patches, particularly during extended runs in the team in December and April, but he also spent long spells on the fringes of Guardiola’s thinking. The City coach values consistency above anything else and once you’re out, it’s very difficult to swing the pendulum back.
Jack Grealish is back in the England squad after missing out on the Euros. Despite an up-and-down time at Manchester City, he’s determined to prove his doubters wrong. Eddie Keogh – The FA/The FA via Getty Images
Last month at Manchester’s Opera House, Phil Foden was named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year for 2023-24. But 12 months earlier, during City’s charge toward the treble, Foden missed a chunk of the season after surgery to remove his appendix in March and didn’t win back his place in time to start the finals of either the FA Cup or Champions League. Grealish was picked instead.
Also on stage at the Opera House that night was Cole Palmer. He collected his award for Young Player of the Year and in front of Guardiola, the England playmaker explained that part of his success came from a move to Chelsea that was motivated by a lack of playing time at City. The irony is that had Grealish not played so well during the treble year, Palmer might have had more opportunities at the Etihad and stayed put.
If that had happened, there would have been no blistering debut season for Palmer at Chelsea and, potentially, an extra space for Grealish at the Euros. If there’s a silver lining for Grealish, it’s that — as Foden and Palmer have shown — a year is a long time in football. Indeed, Grealish was back in the City team for last weekend’s 3-1 win over West Ham United, and has done enough to earn an England recall from interim manager Lee Carsley ahead of UEFA Nations League games against Republic of Ireland and Finland.
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But he knows his chances of emulating Foden and Palmer as PFA award winners are slim. Foden won the top award after registering 19 goals and eight assists in the Premier League. Palmer’s return was 22 goals and 11 assists. Grealish, meanwhile, has never scored more than eight Premier League goals in a season — for Villa in 2019-20 — and it has become a frustration of his that often the quality of a performance is measured purely by numbers.
“It’s annoying the way the game has gone because you can have a brilliant game and not get a goal or an assist and they say, ‘Ah, he didn’t do this or that,'” Grealish told ESPN in April. “Then you can score two tap-ins at the back post and not play well at all and everyone’s like, ‘Ah, he’s brilliant.'”
Aside from the debate about his stats, there remains a question about whether Guardiola is the right manager to make the most of Grealish’s maverick talent. At Villa — where he was undeniably their best attacking player — Grealish would be allowed to roam wherever he wanted, popping up in pockets of space and dragging defenders out of their comfort zone. There’s more structure at City. Guardiola likes his attackers in particular channels, and it means Grealish often finds himself holding a lonely position on the left.
In his last season at Villa, Grealish averaged 40.9 ball carries, 60.8 touches and 6.5 touches in the opposition box. Even in his best season at City — 2022-23 — his numbers were down in each of those categories, and last season they fell even further. In 2023-24, his per-game averages were 29 ball carries, 39 touches and 2.1 touches in the opposition box.
Grealish would be the first to tell you that performances shouldn’t be reduced to pure numbers, but it paints a picture of a player whose influence in games has waned, particularly last season. First and foremost, he has to stay fit, but there is significant room for improvement.
With Kevin De Bruyne, Jérémy Doku, Bernardo Silva, Savinho and Foden as his competition for first-team places, Grealish’s role at City won’t change anytime soon. There is, though, a chance to make more of the opportunities he gets. Julián Álvarez has left for a starting role at Atlético Madrid, and Oscar Bobb will be sidelined by injury for the foreseeable future, thrusting Grealish back into contention for more regular game time. The benefit of a full preseason meant he had a head-start on the players returning from international tournaments.
After a disappointing season ended in his omission from the Euros, the questions surrounding him are back. Not for the first time, he’s hoping to prove his doubters wrong.
