Jack Grealish facing watershed moment after Man City axe as European giants eye transfer

Jack Grealish is likely to leave Manchester City in the summer transfer window after being brutally left out of Pep Guardiola’s travelling squad for the Club World Cup

As Manchester City prepare for the Club World Cup and England gear up for a World Cup qualifier, Jack Grealish finds himself out in the cold. Once Britain’s most expensive player at £100million, Grealish is now cast in the role of outcast for club and country, facing an uncertain future.

City’s decision to leave Grealish out of their Club World Cup squad for the month-long tournament in the United States is a savage blow to a player who was an integral part of their Treble triumph just two years ago.

Back then, Grealish was one of the first names on Pep Guardiola’s team-sheet, a player whose ball-carrying threat, ability to draw fouls and work-rate made him undroppable for a City side that ruled at home and in Europe.

Now, though, Grealish finds himself at a crossroads in his career, unwanted by his club and not deemed worthy of inclusion in a squad that will need to dip deep into its personnel if City are to go all the way in the US.

Grealish has seen this moment coming, after a season in which he made just seven Premier League starts reached a nadir in City’s final league game, at Fulham, when he was left out of the squad. Not injured, not rested, just not deemed worthy of inclusion by Guardiola, who compounded Grealish’s misery after the 2-0 win by effectively saying it was time for the winger to move on.

Denying his issue with Grealish was personal, even though he is known to have been less than impressed with some of his late night antics, Guardiola spoke candidly about what the player must do. “It’s not anything personal about Jack,” said Guardiola.

“I’m the person who fought for him to come here and fought for him to stay this season and the previous season. But Jack has to play – that’s the truth. He has to play every three days and that didn’t happen this season or last season.”

With Grealish targeting a return to the England fold for next year’s World Cup, he knows he must be playing regularly at club level, which is simply not going to happen at City.

Savinho, Jeremy Doku, Omar Marmoush, even Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva, who operate more centrally, are all ahead of him in the pecking order, with Grealish now tasked with the job of finding a new club this summer to revive his stalled career.

Which club should sign Jack Grealish? Let us know your pick in the comments section.

With wages of around £300,000-a-week and two years left on his contract, a loan move seems the likeliest option for Grealish to get out of City and play regularly, with a return to boyhood club Aston Villa a strong possibility.

A loan move to Arsenal is possible, with Raheem Sterling heading back to Chelsea, while Italian clubs Napoli and AC Milan are exploring a move for Grealish and a switch to the lucrative Saudi Pro League cannot be ruled out.

Wherever he ends up Grealish, who turns 30 in three months, faces a battle to re-establish himself as a Premier League star and a player worthy of taking to the World Cup, if not as a starter, then as a game-changer from the bench.

His has been a spectacular fall from grace, but there is still time for Grealish to salvage his career with the right move, which is why this summer, while his City team-mates and erstwhile England colleagues are in the thick of competitive action, his task is to find a club where he can thrive again.

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