Pep Guardiola hits out at Lee Carsley and England’s decision to select Jack Grealish for international duty | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has issued a stern questioning of Lee Carsley and England’s decision to select Jack Grealish for international duty this month.

The former Aston Villa captain has been ruled out for just over two weeks having sustained a problem during the training session that immediately followed Manchester City’s dramatic 1-2 win away to Wolves in the Premier League.

The injury to Grealish has also coincided with a multitude of injuries across the squad, leaving Pep Guardiola with the ultimate selection headache whilst opening an opportunity for Matheus Nunes to impress from the left, which the Portuguese midfielder has certainly taken.

But to the surprise of many, amid his ongoing absence from the City squad, Jack Grealish was selected by Lee Carsley for the England interim manager’s final international camp in charge, and the final international break of the calendar year.

Speaking during the second-half of his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, Pep Guardiola confirmed that he had received no contact from England’s interim head coach over the fitness of Grealish prior to Thursday’s squad announcement.

“It’s his decision,” Guardiola said of Carsley. “In 17 days he (Jack Grealish) didn’t train once, today (Friday) was the first training and he trained 20 minutes. So, this is the reality.”

While Pep Guardiola insists he has no issues with players reporting for international action with their countries, despite the intense club fixture schedule at present, those same players must be fully-fit, in the eyes of the Etihad tactician.

“I’m really pleased that the players, WHEN they are fit, when they didn’t struggle in the last one, two, three weeks, one month, go to the national team,” Guardiola explained. “I’m more than satisfied they go to represent his own country, they love to play with them.

“But when they don’t fit well for the reason that they struggle in the last month, I have the opinion they have to recover.”

Lee Carsley revealed on Thursday afternoon that Jack Grealish had returned to training for Manchester City over the days leading up to his squad selection, and as such he would be willing to allow the player as much time as possible to make the next round of fixtures.

But Guardiola was keen to play down the amount of training undertaken by Grealish as he revealed, “In the gym, for a few minutes, yeah. In the last two days in the gym. It’s a question for the manager from the UK (whether Grealish is ready or not), so I’m not involved in that.

“They can select, I cannot add anything else. Only I said, the day after Wolves he was injured, 17 days out and today was the first training with the team… I don’t know if he will be fit for 20 minutes, I don’t know. I’ve said, the manager from the UK will know better than me.”

The City manager has however admitted to speaking with Jack Grealish over the matter of the England call-up, revealing that the player has already indicated his desire to join up with the final camp of the calendar year and such a desire does not ‘surprise’ the Etihad boss.

“They can select all the players that they want. And Jack today trained and they believe that he can help, I’m not the guy to say, ‘You can not go!’ Only I’ve said, for my team, for tomorrow, he’s not fit. So he can not play tomorrow, that is the only thing I can say.

“And after that, since a little bit more than two weeks, he didn’t train. And the people from England believe that he can help them, so go.”

Jack Grealish is ruled out of Manchester City’s opportunity to end their losing run across competitions, with Pep Guardiola and his players having exited the Carabao Cup at the fourth round stage, lost to Bournemouth, and sustained a heavy defeat to Sporting in Lisbon.