Jack Grealish has experienced a difficult time at Manchester City this season and has been told his current performances are not worthy of a place at a top Premier League team
Jack Grealish has been warned that his time at Manchester City might have boosted his bank balance but it’s put his career in reverse.
Grealish was signed by the club for a then-British-record fee of £100million in 2021 but has fallen out of favour under Pep Guardiola. Despite being a key part of the his treble-winning team in 2022-23, the 29-year-old has only started six Premier League games this term.
The ex-Aston Villa star is now one of eight senior players reportedly at risk of being axed by City during the summer, alongside Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Mateo Kovacic. While Guardiola has urged Grealish to keep working to regain his place in the team, a former Manchester United man has claimed his current performance levels are nowhere near the standard required to start for the Premier League giants.
Retired goalkeeper Ben Foster believes Guardiola is partly to blame for Grealish’s slump in form after accusing him of reining in the winger’s natural attacking flair. The ex-England and Wrexham stopper said Grealish should seek a move elsewhere, but not expect to feature for a top four team, despite reaping the financial rewards at City.
Discussing Grealish’s time at City on the Fozcast podcast, Foster said: “It’s been a great success for his bank balance, I’ll tell you that. His trophy cabinet and his bank balance are absolutely popping. In those 150 appearances, he’s probably made about £70million as well.
“But the sad fact of it is that Grealish doesn’t get near the front three of any top Premier League team. I think Grealish needs a bit of freedom now to go to a team where the manager will say to him, ‘Jack, go out there and do what you do for me please’.”
Last month, Grealish admitted that 2024 was “the most difficult year” of his life and talked about wanting to turn over a new leaf. It came as he only started in 10 games for his club in the Premier League last season and was left out of the England squad for Euro 2024.
He said: “Last year, the whole year itself, it was weird because my little daughter was born, but apart from that it was one of the most difficult years – probably the most difficult year of my life for many reasons, on and off the pitch.
“I found it really difficult. But it’s a new year, a sort of fresh start, and hopefully I can kick on from here.” Despite Grealish’s troubles, Foster said he understood his reasons for moving to City and took aim at Guardiola over his handling of the player.
He said: “I don’t blame Grealish for doing what he did. He was the best player at Aston Villa, Villa fans absolutely loved him. He went out there every single day and expressed himself and everybody loved him for that.
“Man City bought him for an awful lot of money, a ridiculous amount of money in fact, and then almost put the shackles on him. That’s exactly what happened – they’re buying a player and then not playing him in the way that he’s supposed to be played.”
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