WHAT has Pep Guardiola ever done for Jack Grealish?
Aside from helping him earn three Premier League titles, a Champions League, an FA Cup, a Club World Cup and more than £60million in wages?
Well, the Manchester City manager has also shackled one of English football’s greatest showmen and sucked the joy out of its most likeable bloke, reducing an effervescent eye-catcher to a miserable bench-warmer.
Grealish at his best, before his £100million move from Aston Villa to Manchester City in 2021, was an old-school flair player and a darling of the terraces for his dribbling ability, as well as being a style icon and heart-throb.
Now his four-year spell at the Etihad is coming to an end, with Grealish axed from City’s 27-man squad for the Club World Cup which starts in the US this weekend.
Grealish is looking for a new club this summer, while City have already signed eight players for a total of £282MILLION in 2025.
And it is a wonder why City boss Guardiola ever agreed to lavishing what was then a British record transfer fee on a player who was never likely to fit in.
Guardiola is a tactical genius but he likes his players to be as obsessive about football as he is.
He demands workaholics.
And while Grealish is not a playboy waster, he lives by the old adage “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”.
City have usually played in a delicious eye-candy style under Pep, but his philosophy is all about teamwork, about pass-and-move, rather than the type of individual flair for which Grealish was renowned.
Topless in the rain
It is a testimony to Grealish’s lovable personality that when Scotland’s Stephen O’Donnell successfully marked him during a 0-0 draw with England at Wembley in the Euros of 2021, he killed him with kindness rather than kicking or insulting the Three Lions man.
O’Donnell had taken advice from teammate John McGinn — a Villa colleague of Grealish — on how best to keep him quiet.
“John had given me some tips,” revealed O’Donnell.
“He told me that if Jack comes on I need to get nibbling in his ear but don’t be critical, be complimentary.
“So the second he came on I was telling him how good-looking he was, that I loved his calves, and I was asking him how he got his hair to look like that.
“I was told if I kick him or get him really hard, he gets back up and at you.”
That was during Gareth Southgate’s reign as England manager, when his reluctance to select Grealish in his starting line-up became a lightning rod.
It was seen as proof that the most successful Three Lions boss of the past 60 years was a negative, cautious stick-in-the-mud — the majority of Grealish’s 39 caps having come as a substitute.
I love Jack. I love everything about him. I love his personality, I love his quality. The guy has courage.
Thomas Tuchel, England manager
Terrace songs imploring Southgate to bring on “Super Jackie Grealish” were the soundtrack to many an England match — yet Southgate surprisingly omitted him from his squad for last summer’s Euros.
Southgate believed, correctly, that Grealish is a player who thrives on being the main man in any team — a playmaker, who demands a lot of the ball, a risk-taker at his best when he can showcase his devilment.
That was never going to be the case with England, who are blessed with so much talent in wide and attacking midfield positions — nor at Guardiola’s City.
England’s new manager Thomas Tuchel has said: “I love Jack.
“I love everything about him.
“I love his personality, I love his quality.
“The guy has courage.”
And yet Tuchel hasn’t picked Grealish in either of the two squads he has named because of his severe lack of game time at City.
Last season, Grealish started just seven Premier League games — and only one after Tuchel started the England job in January.
He managed just one goal and one assist in the entire league campaign.
Grealish has told Tuchel he is “not a stop-start player”, that he craves rhythm — and Guardiola simply hasn’t allowed that to happen during the past two seasons.
In January, Guardiola said he wanted to see “the Jack Grealish that won the Treble”.
Grealish played a major role when City swept the board by winning the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in 2023 — even though his wings had been clipped with less emphasis on dribbling and taking on opponents.
But since the iconic image of the boozed-up Brummie standing topless in the piddling rain during City’s celebratory bus parade two years ago, Grealish’s fortunes have plummeted.
Seasons of torment
He turns 30 in December but retains his boyish looks and a child-like love of life.
His interviews, while on England duty, are great theatre — he is funny, engaging and honest.
But despite his charismatic nature, there is also a vulnerability.
During one interview, when Grealish’s lifestyle had been under the spotlight, the player told the assembled media: “I just want youse all to like me.”
In truth, it is difficult to spend any time in Grealish’s company and not like him.
Having been assaulted on the pitch by a Birmingham City fan — who was jailed for the incident — during a derby match against Villa, Grealish would have more reason than most to keep his distance from supporters.
Yet in an era of roped-off, VIP, multi-millionaire footballers, he is one of the most accessible of big-name players.
His down-to-earth qualities were recently displayed when he visited a social club in Wearside in March and stuck £500 behind the bar for fellow drinkers.
Whoever does sign Grealish will be recruiting a gem of a player, desperate to express himself after two seasons of torment under Guardiola.
Grealish is not a one-dimensional character.
He’s Jack the Lad and he’s Gentleman Jack, too.
He is a keen amateur DJ and a Gucci model — which is one of several lucrative commercial deals, ranging from Bose audio equipment to Hellmann’s mayonnaise.
And he is also an ambassador for Special Olympics GB.
His sister Hollie has cerebral palsy and he frequently interacts with disabled people in person and with video messages.
His partner Sasha Attwood is a model — like many a Premier League Wag — but the couple are childhood sweethearts who met at school in Solihull. Their first child, Mila, was born in September.
Indeed, over the past year or two you would have been more likely to hear about Grealish carrying out a commercial or charitable appearance than playing a game of football.
Hopefully that will change this summer.
Despite Grealish having two years left on his City contract, Guardiola is happy for him to leave, either on a permanent deal for around £30million to £40million, or on a loan.
Everton, who are moving into a swish new stadium next season, are among the leaders in the race to sign him, along with German club Bayer Leverkusen — managed by former Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag.
Whoever does sign Grealish will be recruiting a gem of a player, desperate to express himself after two seasons of torment under Guardiola.
Any lover of football — any lover of life — will enjoy seeing him play with a smile on his face again.
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