Jack Grealish admits drinking played part in Pep Guardiola fallout at Manchester City | OneFootball

Manchester City’s on-loan forward Jack Grealish has admitted that his activities off the pitch did not help him in maintaining Pep Guardiola’s trust during his time at the Etihad Stadium.

Grealish joined Everton on a season-long loan this summer and the Toffees retain a £50 million buy option for the England international, who has two years remaining on his current Manchester City deal.

The 30-year-old joined Manchester City as the club’s record signing for £100 million in 2021 and played a crucial role in the Blues’ historic 2022-23 treble-winning season, wherein he scored crucial goals against Arsenal, Liverpool en route to his second Premier League winners’ medal.

Since leaving boyhood club Aston Villa, Grealish enjoyed mixed fortunes under Guardiola and after an impressive showing in City’s treble season, the Birmingham-born star failed to kick on and was in and out of the starting XI in the 2023-24 season.

Grealish remained a bit-part player over the course of the 2024-25 season and made just seven Premier League starts for Manchester City last term, prompting a change in scene for the former Aston Villa captain to revitalise his England career.

England manager Thomas Tuchel has so far overlooked Grealish in his first few squad selections since Gareth Southgate’s departure and the winger has taken matters in his own hands to force his way into the former Chelsea boss’ thinking ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Having made a blistering start to life at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, Grealish won the Premier League Player of the Month award with four assists in his first two starts for Everton, who have given the on-loan Manchester City man a new lease of life in Merseyside.

Speaking in an interview with former manager Tim Sherwood, who brought Grealish into the Aston Villa first-team from the academy in 2014, the Everton star has reflected on his time at Manchester City and why it didn’t turn out the way the forward would have liked it to.

“People go, “He likes to go out, he likes to party,’ and I do. I want to be able to live my life and enjoy myself but obviously there’s a time and a place to do that,” Grealish said to Sky Sports.

“Sometimes, I’ll be honest with you, I probably haven’t picked the right times. At (Manchester) City, I didn’t help myself at tiskymes, I’ll openly say that but then I don’t think it was all down to that.”

Grealish held honest talks over his club future with Guardiola earlier in the summer as all parties came to an agreement that after four seasons in Manchester, this was the time for Grealish to move on and start afresh.

With widespread interest in his services from clubs in England and abroad, Grealish has admitted that his head was turned after his first conversation with Everton manager David Moyes on FaceTime, with the Manchester City man seemingly enjoying his football in a manner that he hasn’t in recent seasons under Guardiola.