MANCHESTER, England — There was a buzz of excitement Saturday as Manchester City fans at Etihad Stadium realized it was Jack Grealish who recovered the ball to take his penalty in the 49th minute in the FA Cup match against Salford City.
Goalless in 392 days, there was a nervous impatience in the stands as he placed the ball on the spot and a lull in the cheers as he began his run-up.
When he hit the net – one of eight goals scored by City that day – he was greeted with the biggest cheer of the afternoon. Grealish hugged the crowd before sharing a joke with the striker Erling HaalandCity’s usual shooter, while the Norwegian international sat on the substitutes’ bench. Out of form and out of the first team, Grealish remains one of City’s most popular players.
The majority of the homemade signs dotted around the ground on Saturday night asked for Grealish for his shirt. Two young fans sitting behind the benches wore headbands and had their hairstyles identical to the England striker. After a goal and two assists against Salford, Grealish left the pitch after the 8-0 win with a smile, but that hasn’t always been the case over the past 18 months. A key part of Pep Guardiola’s team which won the treble in 2023, he has continued to move down the hierarchy.
The former Aston Villa skipper was left on the bench as City returned to the Premier League on Tuesday and was forced to watch the reigning champions squander another lead – this time drawing 2-2 with Brentford after was two goals ahead. .
It was a familiar situation for the mercurial attacker. After the 4-1 win over West Ham United in early January, Guardiola detailed why Savinho — the 20-year-old Brazilian winger who is playing his first season in the league — is currently ahead of Grealish in his thinking. Guardiola has made no secret of the fact that a squad overhaul is coming, perhaps as early as the summer. And if Grealish – still one of the most expensive British footballers in history at £100million – has not re-established himself as a regular starter by the end of the season, questions will inevitably arise over his future.
Will he stay at the Etihad and work to secure an extension to his contract which expires in 2027? Or, with two years left on his contract, will it be time for City to gauge his interest and let him leave for the right offer?
The fact that Grealish was on the pitch against Salford provides insight into his status within Guardiola’s squad. Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, If Guardiol, Rico Lewis, Phil FodenManuel Akanji and Matthew Kovacic were all wrapped in cotton on the bench thinking about the second half of the season.
Instead, it was the smaller players like Matheus Nunes, James McAtee, Nico O’Reilly, Divine Mubama And Jahmai Simpson-Pusey who was trusted to knock out the Ligue 2 team. For now, Grealish – with six league starts all season – is in that group.
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Craig Burley: Man City are mediocre by his standards
Craig Burley and Stevie Nicol react to Manchester City’s 2-2 draw against Brentford.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
Left out of England’s Euro 2024 squad, Grealish used Juventus training centers during his summer break to get a head start ahead of the new season. He was one of the few senior players to take part in the pre-season tour to the United States and there was a feeling that this was an opportunity for the 29-year-old to regain a regular place.
But after suffering an injury in training ahead of the Community Shield, he was not fit enough to start a match until the end of August. Nearly five months later, his season has still not started.
“I want the best for my players, for everyone,” Guardiola said when asked about Grealish after the big win over Salford. “I want them to perform well. I do. But in the end, they have to deliver on their promises.
“But not just him, it’s not just Jack. I saw him in the hat-trick year and he was a main player for us, but after that there are two options: think it’s me or think about what you can do better No Jack, everyone, I know their best, all the players we have here, I know the best of them because they helped us to. earn what we have earned.
Guardiola never explicitly stated that Grealish had lost his focus after the treble season, but there have been veiled references. Selected to start against FC København in the UEFA Champions League in February after five matches on the bench, Guardiola said he made the decision to reinstate him “because in the last few days his mood and his training were much, much better”.
Injuries and Guardiola’s ultra-structured system haven’t helped, but the worry for Grealish is that his manager has been saying the same things for almost a year.
“He has to compete with himself,” Guardiola said after the win over West Ham as Grealish was limited to just six minutes off the bench. “Savinho is in better shape and everything than Jack. I want the Jack who won the treble. You have to prove it. And every day, every week and every month.”
There is still time for Grealish to turn things around.
In the treble season that Guardiola considers his benchmark, Grealish only became a certain starter at the end of January. Between the start of February 2023 and until the Champions League final in Istanbul, Grealish only missed seven of City’s 29 games and most of those were due to him being rested for matches more important. After a damaging start to the season, only Haaland can be sure of his place.
Guardiola said he hoped Grealish’s first club goal since December 2023 could “help him”, but the message has always been that he must help himself first.
If his penalty against Salford can spark something in Grealish to return to the form he showed two years ago, then his place in City’s rebuild will be in no doubt. But if Guardiola continues to recite the same criticisms towards the end of the campaign, his future at the Etihad will be in jeopardy.
