Manchester City left Wembley with a host of silver medals and some players may feel a little less certain of their places in the club's future.
Jack Grealish was an unused substitute as Manchester City handed an FA Cup final debut to Claudio Echeverri.
Jack Grealish was an unused substitute as Manchester City handed an FA Cup final debut to Claudio Echeverri.
Almost every Manchester City player had taken their silver medals off by the time they had jogged down the steps from the Royal Box at Wembley.
The dejected Blues sportingly applauded Crystal Palace's first ever trophy lift and headed down the Wembley tunnel and swiftly onto their coach. Two players who had been crucial to the FA Cup run didn't even get a medal on Saturday.
Prior to the game, the big screens at Wembley showed City's route to the FA Cup final, starting with James McAtee's hat-trick against Salford in round three and ending with Rico Lewis' opener in the semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
Both players were pitchside in club tracksuits before the game having been ruthlessly omitted from the matchday squad. Without them, City wouldn't even have been in the final. Yet Pep Guardiola felt the South American duo of Vitor Reis and Claudio Echeverri were better options in the final having both arrived in January.
Lewis and McAtee could see the goals being replayed and so could Guardiola, all three watching intently. Later, they were not part of the City group who trudged up the stairs to receive their medals - that duty only reserved for starters and substitutes on the day.
City get 40 medals to distribute among players and officials, so the pair will be given a token to recognise their FA Cup achievements. But it will still hurt, and both were the first to board the City coach soon after full-time - a member of Crystal Palace staff sprinting past them with a crate of beer to get the party started.
McAtee in particular has been restricted mostly to cup starts this season having remained at City to fight for a place in the first team. He started in the third, fourth and fifth rounds, the first two rounds of the Carabao Cup, while it wasn't until April until he started his first Premier League game.
But having been on the bench in the quarter-final, suspended for the semi and then left out completely for the final this felt like a new frustration in a season that hasn't gone to plan. Speculation remains over his future this summer with a year left on his contract and City seeking to spend tens of millions on attacking midfield reinforcements.
Starting or playing off the bench in the final may not change McAtee's summer plans, but the omission certainly could cement any intention to leave.
Likewise for Lewis, not so much linked with an exit but no closer to knowing his status in Guardiola's plans after an up-and-down season. Being left out of the final to watch from the sidelines is hardly a vote of confidence.
And then what of Jack Grealish? Another player who was pivotal in the earlier rounds of the FA Cup with a goal and three assists from five appearances. But he was left on the bench and overlooked for 19-year-old debutant Echeverri when City needed a goal - a player more likely to be playing somewhere else on loan next season rather than at the Etihad.
Guardiola liked what he saw from Echeverri, who got three shots away in a lively cameo. The final substitution saw Ilkay Gundogan summoned for one last act of inspiration - and Grealish remained seated.
Grealish got his medal, however this was another snub in a season where his manager keeps looking for other options to turn games around. Just like McAtee, Grealish won't have much confidence of a place in City's future given they are actively seeking reinforcements in the same position.
Grealish may be harder to move on, but if a transfer can be found at a price that suits all parties then perhaps the cup final has confirmed where he stands - or doesn't - in City's plans.
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