Jack needs to work and play to prove to City he’s not a dull boy
TODAY is the day for Jack Grealish to pay back Manchester City on their lavish investment. Since his £100million transfer from Aston Villa, the pin-up boy of English football has looked lovely in sky blue – a lucrative Gucci contract is said to be in the offing – but as a football acquisition, he has been a disappointment.
It has not been the case that Grealish has been flat-out bad, just not flat-out good – or nowhere near good enough to justify a British record fee, anyway.
Two goals in 20 Premier League games is a thin return for an attacking player in the dominant side he finds himself in.
If he was creating a raft of chances for others, the shortfall could be forgiven but the fact is he has made only two goals domestically since his bells-andwhistles arrival in the summer.
The Alice band may have sat well but it has been a season through the looking glass for Grealish, with nothing quite falling into place for him at the Etihad.
It is natural that any new player will need a period to acclimatise himself – City’s possession-hogging method is profoundly different to thevilla he knew under Dean
Smith – but Grealish has had sufficient time by now to learn the rhythms of Pep Guardiola’s elegant ensemble.there should be more to accompany the price tag.
Has Pep bought a dud? For all the City manager’s blizzard of success through his career, he isn’t immune to the odd transfer blooper.
Claudio Bravo, Danilo, Nolito – none of them exactly tore it up at City.
Grealish has already made more appearances for the club than Nolito but given the exorbitant fee, nine months in, it is hard to say his signing has been a success.
It is difficult to recall a single game he has grabbed by the scruff of the neck and shaken as he might have done at Villa.
Is the fee weighing heavy?
It is hard to dance with the devil on your back certainly but once the whistle blows, the game is the same.
There has been a feeling of a caged lion about Grealish since his move north, a sense that he has been unwilling to take a risk in his desperation to fit into the Guardiola way. He doesn’t lose the ball often but things tend to stop
rather than start when the ball gets to Grealish. City’s last game against Burnley represented Grealish’s season in miniature.
Burnley were there for the taking after City opened up a 2-0 lead within 24 minutes but the eye was drawn much more towards the work of Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne. Grealish seemed unable – or unwilling – to express himself in the same way.
In midweek, it was Phil Foden who commanded the stage, coming off the bench to turn the tie against Atletico Madrid. Grealish was useful in one way as a foul magnet. But it was Foden’s night.
GREALISH has essentially been a pawn in the City chess set since his arrival, not yet the queen. It was instructive to see Grealish in action with England last month where he looked much more of a free spirit. He ran at Ivory Coast in a way he has not run at many defences in the Premier League this season.
He is one of English football’s most gifted dribblers, so why have we not seen more of that at the Etihad?
Is it self-policing or managerial orders? Either way, it sells both player and club short to hide his light under a bushel.
Of course it is harder to stand out to the same degree as he did at his previous
club, surrounded by an elevated quality of player.
Maybe he is a level down on them? Most are seasoned internationals, after all. But how does that square with him being the £100m man?
Guardiola has used him down the left and occasionally as a false nine. Whatever role he gives him against Liverpool today
– and there is no guarantee it will be a starting one – a game like this should be made for Grealish.
Big-money signings are bought for big matches and in Premier League title terms, this one is a whopper.
It is a heavyweight contest by any measure and Grealish should, by rights, have a major part to play in its outcome.
He left his home-town club to win trophies. He needs to drive that push at City, not sit back and wait for the medals to come to him.
Time to see the real Jack.*