Jack Grealish, one of the most expensive British footballers, is facing a challenging period at Manchester City. Despite being a key figure in their treble-winning season, he has struggled for consistent playing time this year. This article explores the reasons behind Grealish's decline, including Guardiola's tactical choices, increased competition, and perhaps even a shift in his playing style.
One of the joint most expensive British footballers, Grealish should be looking forward to Manchester City's mouth-watering Champions League play-off round match with Real Madrid on Tuesday. But, if recent experience is any guide, he is more likely to be featuring in an FA Cup fourth-round tie at League One Leyton Orient on Saturday. Grealish has not started a match since he scored during the 8-0 third-round win over Salford on 11 January.
Later that month, the 29-year-old was on the bench as Pep Guardiola's men trailed at half-time in their must-win final Champions League first-phase game against Club Brugge. But instead of his £100m man, Guardiola turned to relatively untested Brazilian Savinho - a £30.8m signing from Girona last summer - to lead the salvage operation. Guardiola was not even asked about it afterwards because none of the reporters present were surprised. How did we get here? What has gone wrong for the England international? And is there a way back for him at City? Just over a month before the Brugge game, Guardiola delivered a straightforward public message to Grealish, challenging him to prove he deserved to regain his spot and explaining why Savinho was being chosen ahead of him. 'Savinho is in better shape and everything than Jack, and that's why I played Savinho,' he said. 'Do I want the Jack that won the Treble? Yeah I want it, but I try to be honest with myself about that. They have to fight. 'You can say it's unfair. If you think that, it's fine, but you have to prove , 'OK, I'm going to fight with Savinho, to deserve to play in that position', every single day, every single week and every single month.' But those statistics merely underlined the inescapable sense of drift - and Grealish has not played at all in the three matches that have followed. Asked again on Friday about Grealish's lack of game time before the FA Cup tie at Orient, Guardiola said he was 'so sorry' he had not given him the minutes he 'maybe deserved'. 'It's not that I don't like Jack,' he added. 'I know his attributes, it's just the big impact Savinho has had on assists and goals. 'The manager sometimes has to select one player over another. I make mistakes sometimes... it is manager life and you have to accept it.' Some of those close to Grealish emphasize it is not just him that has endured a difficult season - the same can be said for the whole team. They feel Grealish has lost out in Guardiola's desperate search for solutions to the worst period of his managerial career. Kevin de Bruyne, it has been pointed out, has also been repeatedly overlooked. They also say it is wrong to compare the man who shone for Aston Villa with the current version at City because he has been used very differently. Indeed, one referred BBC Sport to the recent comments of former England winger Theo Walcott, who last month said: 'I see a player who has incredible talent that's been absolutely coached out of him. I just feel he's gone away from his strengths. Everything that is Jack Grealish has been trained out of him.''He's just got to get on with it,' says ex-Villa manager Tim Sherwood, who gave a teenage Grealish his first league start 10 years ago, and still speaks regularly to him. 'It happens to everyone. He gets into pretty much every other Premier League team. I've no idea what Pep's issue is, but he owes a lot to Pep. 'He wants to play, but he knows what to do. He's just got to keep working hard. He'll bounce back, he's a good pro. He's never been 'first choice'. I'm not sure who is at City.' Grealish's struggles to get into City's starting side are nothing new. At the end of last season he admitted his 2023-24 campaign had been 'stop-start'. 'We have so many good players here so it's difficult,' he added. 'There's no team in the world that rotates like this team do, but that's the beauty of it.' against Nottingham Forest - the one game in a chronic 13-match spell they did win - and even joked he may have made a mistake by previously using him as a winger. Yet, just a month later, Guardiola publicly suggested the player's standards had slipped, leading to rumours Grealish could leave during the January transfer window. That did not happen, but the arrivals of another forward in Omar Marmoush and central midfielder Nico Gonzalez, plus Oscar Bobb's return to fitness, bring even more competition. So when did Grealish's fall down the pecking order really begin? The Champions League final triumph over Inter Milan in Istanbul. He had also played virtually all of the magnificent 4-0 semi-final victory over Real Madrid, and the FA Cup final win against Manchester United. Grealish then became the face of City's Treble festivities. His drinking and lack of sleep received much of the attention, and he admitted he had reported 'a bit hungover' for England duty. It all reinforced the sense of enjoyment, authenticity and openness that has endeared him to fans and team-mates, evoking memories of Paul Gascoigne's flamboyance
JACK GREALISH MANCHESTER CITY PEP GUARDIOLA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FA CUP SAVINHO KEVIN DE BRUYNE ASTON VILLA TREBLE FORM STRUGGLES
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