How Jack Grealish’s rollercoaster year of fatherhood, his shock Euros axeing and NO GOALS for Man City landed him in Pep Guardiola’s firing line

Crowned champions of the Premier League. Left out of England’s European Championship squad. Became a father for the first time. Lost his place at Manchester City.

There are more than enough ups and downs in that twelve-month period to affect anyone’s game, and yet that’s just a year in the life of Jack Grealish, once the darling of English football.

But now, 18 months after his crowning glory at Manchester City, he appears to be at his lowest point at the Etihad. Pep Guardiola has said he knows Grealish can return to his best, but he is currently being played out of the team by summer signing Savinho.

“No matter how well Grealish looks at himself, he will see the competition,” Guardiola said on Saturday. ‘He has to compete with himself. Savinho is in better shape and everything than Jack and that’s why I played Savinho.

‘I want the Jack who won the Treble. But that’s why I try to be honest with myself. What happened to Savinho’s delivery in the box? It is higher than the other wingers in that position.

‘And they have to fight. You can say, ‘Okay, it’s unfair.’ If that’s what you think, that’s fine. But you have to prove: “I’m going to fight with Savinho, to deserve to play in that position”. And every day, and every week and every month.’

Grealish’s emergence as a creative maverick at the struggling Aston Villa team, and his perceived ‘party boy’ antics as a youngster, drew comparisons to English football kings such as Paul Gascoigne, and for a long time it seemed that he would live up to expectations to fulfil. .

“I would love to be like Gazza,” he said in 2020. “He played with so much joy and that’s what I want to do.

‘One of the biggest compliments people can say to you is that you make them happy watching football.’

There aren’t many players in the current Three Lions crop with a better prize pool (three Premier Leagues and a Champions League, accompanied by another three titles for good measure) so he’s probably already realized that potential.

Two seasons ago, when Man City finally topped the football world with a staggering Treble, Grealish was at the heart of it all. His connection with goal-devouring colossus Erling Haaland was crucial to his side’s universal dominance.

He played almost 3,500 minutes of football in 50 games that season and was at his creative best as one of City’s main stars. He played 90 minutes in all but one of his side’s knockout matches on their way to the crown.

He managed just five goals and seven assists all season, but for players like Grealish, who could turn a game on its head and play with such obvious joy, it’s never really about the numbers, it’s about influence and impact, and such. intangible assets.

Yet that star in a sky blue shirt has struggled to shine so brightly since, ahead of a 2024 that will somehow shape his career.

At the start of the year, Grealish had not played more than four league games in a row all season, with stability and consistency hard to come by, and there are not many who can thrive anywhere in the game in such conditions.

He played just 16 Premier League minutes between New Year’s Day and March 30 while dealing with a groin injury, and at a club like Manchester City, when your place opens up, you’re fighting against one of the best players in the world. to get it back.

The City team is like a rainforest at times; where one towering monolith falls, countless others eagerly await their chance at a spot in the canopy, and so begins a race for the spotlight.

It was around this time that the likes of Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Jarrod Bowen, Anthony Gordon and City teammate Phil Foden were all flourishing for their own teams, all of whom could play in Grealish’s position.

So when the time comes for Gareth Southgate to name his England squad for the European Championship, it is Grealish who is left out, and it is actually difficult to argue with that.

Saka had become England’s best winger, Palmer had stunned the Premier League with his emergence at Chelsea, Bowen scored 20 times for West Ham, Gordon’s rapid pace and energy were second to none, while Foden was named PFA Player’s Player of the Year and FWA Player of the Year. Year. As far as competition goes, it doesn’t get much tougher.

Meanwhile, Grealish’s minutes dried up, there was no goal in a City shirt until 2024 and injury problems plagued any progress. You start to see where Southgate came from.

Having played in 2021 as England reached the final, including a mesmerizing impact from the bench in the 2-0 defeat of Germany, Grealish admitted it was the biggest setback he had ever experienced in football.

‘When you’re on holiday, you see it every time you turn on the phone or TV [the tournament]so it was hard not to see it,” he said in July 2024.

“I’ll be honest, football-wise, this was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with in my own career.

‘I was absolutely heartbroken. For me, as I move forward, I just have to try to use that as motivation going into this season.”

‘I thought I should have been there [England] squad,” he added. ‘I feel like I have something different to offer to the players in the England squad.

‘As I said, this was the most difficult moment for me as a footballer. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my career.’

A true professional, Grealish underwent a grueling pre-season after being dismissed in England in a bid to come back stronger. He posted photos of himself while on vacation.

But there was little he could have done about City signing one of the year’s breakout stars in Savinho, who flourished at Girona before impressing from the start at the Etihad and forcing himself into Guardiola’s plans.

Grealish remained on the bench for an initial 2–0 win over Chelsea and went on to play in the next seven games as City made a strong start to the new 2024/25 season; He had not featured so often in the Premier League since his brilliant 2022-2023 season.

And in the midst of it all, Grealish became a father for the first time and had what any parent will tell you was the best day of his life.

He and his high school sweetheart Sasha Attwood will welcome daughter Mila Rose Grealish into the world on September 27, 2024, in a moment that will change his life forever and will undoubtedly bring new challenges to face in his life, as well as plenty of joy. to last the rest of his career, no matter what happens on the field.

He was still part of his return to the side after leaving to be with his partner and their daughter, but in only two of the next seven league games did he play more than sixteen minutes, while his teammates took their own chances.

In his most recent appearance, against West Ham last weekend, he played just six minutes earlier

Ultimately, Grealish retains the support of his manager, even though Guardiola is known as one of the most difficult managers in the history of football.

If anything, his comments after Saturday’s win speak to a manager willing to do whatever he can to help his player return to his best form, provided he gets back the effort required, although there is nothing to suggest that this is missing.

Although he has failed to bring the same electric jolt of energy to games on a regular basis, Grealish can take solace in the fact that, from a statistical point of view, his performances are actually not that different from those in 2022-2023.

He is behind in goals and expected goals, but higher in shot attempts (1.8 vs. 2.0), chances created (2.2 vs. 3.4), passing accuracy (88 percent vs. 94 percent) and cross success (18 percent versus 19). percent).

Compared to what is considered his best season at City, he is actually only three percent worse off in the Premier League in terms of dribbling success and 0.1 in terms of assists per 90 minutes.

‘I have no doubt whatsoever about the quality of Jack or any of these players. They wouldn’t be here [otherwise],” Guardiola said after the 4-1 win over West Ham.

“I know he can do it because I saw him. I have seen his level and I want that, every training and every match.’

To suggest that the player’s City career is nearing an end would be reactionary and reductive at best, especially given Guardiola’s glowing comments.

Still, it will be intriguing to see how this oh-so-talented forward can bounce back from a 2024 full of setbacks to once again stake his claim as one of the first names on the team sheet, ahead of both Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel. .

Perhaps the best way to return is to get back to what got him that £100 million price tag: playing with the freedom and joyful abandon that put so many smiles on so many faces.