JACK CENTRAL TO PEP’S PLAN
England star may be reinvented as midfield quarterback at City
ONE WAY to ensure Manchester City retain their Premier League title is to corner the market in attacking midfielders.
Certainly, looking at the imminent arrival of Jack Grealish into a dressing room fit to burst with fast-thinking, fleet-footed, left-sided internationals, the initial thought is where on earth is he going to fit in?
But, for Pep Guardiola, two considerations have convinced him he needs the England star as another cherry on his already richlydecorated cake.
The first is that the City manager believes Grealish could be a once-in-alifetime player in a top-class side. The second is that he might just have a plan to reinvent him as midfield quarterback.
Grealish has made his name as something of a maverick, given free licence to roam at Aston Villa, to create panic with his talent and to change the course of games.
But Guardiola is not a manager who allows players to make up their own rules.
In addition to making him work harder out of possession as he did with Sergio Aguero and Riyad Mahrez, a new role could beckon. Guardiola has a clear idea already of how Grealish’s talents can add to his multiple-title-winning unit but the prospect of the playmaker moving inside from the left looks a distinct possibility.
As a more central figure, Grealish would not hamper the ongoing development of Phil Foden, who has looked at his best on the left flank, or shorten the City career of Raheem Sterling.
What it would do is create a lot of opportunities in a central position, especially from dead balls given the number of fouls he wins.
The Villa man was the most-fouled player in the Premier League last season and it is reasonable to assume that if he wins those free-kicks in more central positions, goals will follow.
It lends weight to the theory Grealish is happy to be reinvented as a central force to ease the pressure on 30-year-olds Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan.
Despite missing
12 games with a shin injury last season, Grealish still managed to lead the Premier
League in carries into the penalty area with 80, ahead of
Sterling with
62. He was also fourth best for completed passes into the penalty area, all of which makes him useful against the deep-sitting opposition City are prone to face.
Grealish was genuinely torn to end an association with a club he joined aged six, and for which he has a heartfelt bond.
With a medical at the Etihad set, it seems that the deal is done bar dotted ‘i’s, crossed ’t’s and perhaps ordering a batch of his trademark tight-fit shorts. Grealish, a lover of the biggest stages and ready to star in the Champions League, looks a similarly good fit for City.
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