The 29-year-old’s career is on the verge of drifting away. Is that because of him, Manchester City, or how football has changed?
Jack Grealish is getting used to standing at a crossroads. See the lack of regular starts at Aston Villa, before relegation to the Championship made it easier.
See the “stay or go” deliberation over joining a superclub or staying as a hero. See the omission from England’s Euro 2024 squad and what Gareth Southgate’s decision, unpopular at the time, expressed about Grealish’s loss of status.
And now see a fringe member of a squad in the process of an overhaul. There’s always been a big choice to make for Grealish, it’s just that this one doesn’t feel like a choice at all. About to turn 30 and on vast wages, the relevant question is who can afford to take the gamble.
England’s first £100m footballer was supposed to be better than this. There are monumental caveats to any negativity: he started in Manchester City’s last FA Cup final win, played 90 minutes in the Champions League final victory too and has three Premier League titles. He won a treble and then celebrated like a man who had… won a treble.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - JUNE 12: Jack Grealish of Manchester City celebrates with the UEFA Champions League Trophy on the Open-Top Bus during the Manchester City trophy parade on June 12, 2023 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Tom Flathers/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)
Grealish celebrates during Man City’s open-top bus celebrations after they won the treble (Photo: Getty)
But Grealish has started 17 Premier League matches in the last two seasons. The peak years of his career – aged between 25 and 29 at consistently the best team in the land – have produced 12 league goals.
One of England’s great creative hopes has assisted the same number over that time and it’s five assists in all competitions since 2022-23.
Returns have been diminished. We are allowed to be disappointed. He should be disappointed too. Grealish has started 13 competitive matches for his country and only scored against Iran, Andorra, Finland and Ireland. He was the future, once.
This was always a danger, right? It doesn’t feel like pure revisionism to suggest as much. You take a team-defining player and you put him in an era-defining team and he doesn’t stand out so much.
The criticism of Pep Guardiola for stymieing such a creative talent rather overlooks Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, David Silva, Leroy Sane, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden doing pretty well in the same regard.
But even with them, the system always trumped the individual and they flourished because they managed that truth. You carry your team further up the pitch. You win a foul. You make a run not to get the ball and dribble but to create space for somebody else to make the passing triangle more dangerous. Your role is to cause a loss of concentration from someone in a different colour shirt. You make a difference; you don’t change the game.
Grealish was never a numbers player but it plays out in the numbers anyway. In his final season at Villa, he successfully dribbled past a defender 2.7 times per 90 minutes.
In four years at Manchester City, he has never once passed 2.0 times per 90 in a season despite playing for a dominant team. He’s a different player because he’s doing different things.
That must have come as some surprise. When he first joined City, Grealish spoke about opposition teams being unable to double mark him (as had happened at Villa): “That should create more space for me, and it allows me to attack players one vs one.”
It happened, sometimes. But then the signature move became a dart down the left wing, turn back and pass into midfield as instructed. The move starts again.
What we’re talking about here is surprise and control. Grealish’s greatest talent was always doing things that surprised you, made easier with open space in front of him. Managers of possession-based elite clubs prefer control to surprise and there tends to be a lot less open space.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 20: Jack Grealish of Manchester City on the bench before the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and AFC Bournemouth at Etihad Stadium on May 20, 2025 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Neal Simpson/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
Jack Grealish didn’t even make the bench at City’s last league game against Fulham (Photo: Getty)
The masterstroke of Paris Saint-Germain (and Barcelona, to an extent) this season was maximising individual talent – and elements of surprise – within a controlled system. But that is usually done through extreme pace. At Manchester City that means Savinho or Jeremy Doku (and now Omar Marmoush), not Grealish.
That hurts Grealish twice. Not only do you suffer from being in and out of the team – something he has admitted he struggles with – but that destroys the swagger that is a vital ingredient in your worth.
At his best, he had a fearlessness that suggested nothing could go wrong; it was joyous. How can you play in the same way when you know things are already going wrong? How can that not become self-fulling?
If Grealish ordinarily may garner sympathy, some of that is lost in the whispering about his private life and – shall we say – fondness to have a good time. This is not going to be a column in which a marginally overweight writer tells a lean professional athlete to stay off the pop. Life is short and Grealish can do what he wants.
Your next read
But in January, Guardiola hardly veiled his dig: “Savinho is in better shape and everything than Jack, and that’s why I played Savinho. Do I want the Jack that won the treble? Yeah I want it, but I try to be honest with myself about that. They have to fight.”
The fun-loving, freewheeling aspects of Grealish’s personality are part of the charm and part of the deal. There have never been any explicit accusations of poor training or poor attitude. But these are easier topics to render meaningless when the club is winning a treble. Grealish has extreme competition for places and evidence suggests the battle has been lost.
So this is all a bit sad. There needs to be no overreaction. “Man leaves football club” happens all the time. But when Grealish joined Manchester City, I wrote a column headlined “It will be fascinating to see if Man City’s new boy can maintain his swagger”.
The swagger isn’t quite gone, but its usefulness is. Grealish solved a problem for City in that he won a Champions League, the one trophy they wanted most. Now life here, with this competition and at this age, has created a problem for him. The only way is down. It’s also the only way to stop this career from falling further.
Four possible landing spots for Grealish
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 25: Jack Grealish of Aston Villa celebrates towards his supporters after the fourth goal is scored by Alan Hutton during the Sky Bet Championship match between Aston Villa and Birmingham City at Villa Park on November 25, 2018 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey - Danehouse/Getty Images)
Could Jack go back? (Photo: Getty)
Aston Villa
If we reason that he’s going to have to take a wage cut, a return to Villa Park – replacing Marcus Rashford on the left – would make sense and certainly allow Grealish to hit the ground running in a familiar environment.
Tottenham
Spurs have the budget with Champions League football and Son Heung-min possibly leaving this summer, adding some experience to a young squad would make some sense. The wages would have to be right.
Napoli
Napoli have retained Antonio Conte for next season, but on the proviso that there will be money to spend. With former Premier League players Romelu Lukaku, Scott McTominay, Billy Gilmour and Frank Anguissa having a lovely time, why not join the fun?
Everton
With the new ownership looking to make immediate improvements to the first-team squad, could Everton make Grealish their marquee signing? The lack of European football may be an issue, but David Moyes may delight in rejuvenating Grealish’s career.