Jack Grealish is at a crossroads – and the next step is far from obvious | OneFootball

Sometimes a career can be measured by what happens over summers. In 2021, Jack Grealish became the most expensive Englishman in history, the Premier League’s record signing, the £100m man. In 2023, he was the treble winner whose celebrations in Ibiza felt the stuff of legend. In 2024, he was, to his surprise, omitted from England’s European Championships squad. In 2025, it would be rather less of a shock if he is excluded from Manchester City’s Club World Cup squad.

It could be seen as the rise and fall of Grealish. He may be deemed to be at a crossroads, though one interpretation is that he has reached a dead end, at least as far as City is concerned. Grealish, 29, has started one Premier League match in 2025, appeared for a grand total of four minutes in City’s last seven top-flight fixtures and did not make the bench for their final-day win at Fulham. Pep Guardiola has said he dislikes having to leave players out of the matchday squad, that the players and the club have to find the “best way” forward. He both wants a smaller squad and is busy making signings. Something has to give. Someone has to go.

Leaving Grealish at home when City go to the United States would be an unsubtle hint that he will be the most high-profile casualty. Bidding farewell to him altogether could be a rather lengthier process. Grealish has two years left on his contract, wages that would be prohibitive to most other clubs and which would probably require City to substantially subsidise even a loan deal. The easy answer is to suggest Grealish returns to his beloved Aston Villa. Yet they are shorn of Champions League revenues next season and, in any case, possess more compelling choices in the attacking midfield spots: the Grealish of the last two years is an inferior player to Morgan Rogers, Jacob Ramsey and John McGinn.

The England international has fallen out of favour at Manchester City (Getty)

Grealish has the high profile and high fee, but has had a low output. The feeling is that he is aware of the criticism. In a social media post this week, Grealish argued he had scored in his last three appearances that lasted at least 45 minutes. It isn’t entirely true – he omitted the FA Cup ties against Leyton Orient, Plymouth and Nottingham Forest – but it was an attempt to alter the perception.

Except that the perception is true. He has one league goal since 2023. He did not score for City in any competition in 2024. The last two seasons have brought just five assists in total. The City Grealish can win free-kicks and retain possession – his pass completion rate in last season’s Premier League was 91 per cent – but that may reflect the way the risk and excitement have been stripped from his game.

And even Guardiola, who doesn’t tend to judge players on goals, may have belatedly realised Grealish provides too few. He only really flourished as a City player with others delivering the goals and assists he didn’t: of four seasons, only one has been a personal success. And in 2022-23, Kevin De Bruyne contributed an extraordinary 29 assists, Ilkay Gundogan got vital goals and, though none even started the Champions League final, Julian Alvarez, Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez all scored at least 15 times.

It remains to be seen how the post-De Bruyne era shapes up and who comprises the supporting cast and supply line to Erling Haaland. Yet, after City recorded their lowest tally of Premier League goals in a season under Guardiola, there seems a recognition that they require players who can make them prolific. The January addition Omar Marmoush scored 28 times last year, 20 of them for Eintracht Frankfurt. Of two proposed midfield additions, Tijjani Reijnders scored 15 goals for AC Milan last season and Rayan Cherki got 20 assists for Lyon, including the most (eight) of anyone in the Europa League.

The likely arrival of Tijjani Reijnders adds more competition for Jack Grealish (PA)

Then there is Grealish, the increasingly conservative dribbler. Jeremy Doku and Savinho have displaced him as the wide men who run at defenders. Meanwhile, central-midfield additions are likely to end Guardiola’s brief experiments – against Forest and Juventus – of Grealish in a deeper role.

It leaves him looking the odd man out. Which, again, should be no shock. Grealish has only started 17 of 76 league games for City since winning the Champions League. He ranked 19th in Premier League minutes for City last season, behind the January buys Nico Gonzalez and Marmoush. For Guardiola to have the compact squad he wants, he needs players who stay fit but Grealish has had two stop-start campaigns with injuries.

Jack Grealish appears to have lost some of the qualities that made him a £100m man (AFP/Getty)

For now, and perhaps permanently, there is the impression that the Guardiola and Grealish bromance is over. They were always the odd couple, the nerd and the Jack the lad. At City, there are plenty of examples of Grealish’s common touch, his genuine concern for fans, but his fondness for a night out may have started to count against him.

Or maybe it would have been forgiven if he were delivering on the pitch. He hasn’t in the last two years, a reality which is compounded by his price tag. It made him a luxury in one respect; many of City’s signings – and most of their finest ones – in the last decade came for between £35m and £65m. It also means City face a bigger loss.

And any prospective buyer or borrower would have to factor in an adjustment period, to answer the question, can Grealish return to the player City bought? Because who, really, needs an attacking midfielder who has too little involvement in goals?

Grealish would need a process of de-Guardiola-isation, to restore him to the free spirit from the player who was reprogrammed at City. The Kalvin Phillips precedent is scarcely encouraging. Another likeable Englishman has not recaptured the qualities that made him excel before he joined City. Grealish at least had the heights of the treble. But it came at the cost of making him a duller footballer. And, two years on, as he faces a personal summer of discontent, it is hard to see where he would fit in now.