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Manchester City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany believes that Jack Grealish “has to accept responsibility” and may need to “win the trust” of both Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel if he wishes to get his career back on track for club and country.
The 29-year-old has fallen out of favour under Guardiola this season – not starting a Premier League game for Man City since December 12 – and he has subsequently been left out of Tuchel’s first squad as England head coach for 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia during this month’s international break.
Grealish’s omission comes just over a week since he generated more debate over his lifestyle by visiting a pub in Gorton and a social club in Wearside where he is alleged to have put £500 behind the bar.
Guardiola, who has previously delivered “really negative” comments on Grealish, recently said that he cannot control the private lives of his players when questioned about the attacker prior to City’s 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest, and the Catalan coach has since admitted that he ‘feels sorry’ for players including Grealish who have struggled for regular game time.
Meanwhile, Tuchel has insisted that Grealish’s private life is not the reason for his England omission, but he has urged Man City’s No.10 to show responsibility off the pitch as well as on it.
“He can be the glue in the team,” Tuchel told reporters last Friday. “It’s very easy for youngsters, for experienced players to be attached to him and to be close to him, but this comes also with responsibility off the pitch and, of course, it’s not ideal that he’s in the newspapers and out there in public.
“But it’s maybe also not only his fault. [The media] are happy to write about it, you’re happy to bring it out in public. Everyone, not only you guys, has a phone in his pocket. The guys are famous and they are public figures. I think this can happen. It’s not ideal, we want to have him more calm. No one wants to have it, but this was not the reason for not picking him. It was sporting.”
What does the future hold for Grealish after England snub?
Speaking to Sports Mole about what the future holds for Grealish, McInerney said: “I think the Tuchel quotes were reasonably damning for Jack actually. You’ve got to semi-read between the lines, but Tuchel has sort of talked about how there’s too much heat on Jack Grealish. He didn’t say that directly, but he was implying that he needs to stay out the papers and stay out of the headlines.
“If it was any other player just going for one pint at the weekend when they have a weekend off, I don’t really think anyone would have a discussion, but there seems to be a trend around Jack and there’s a lot of narrative about this constantly.
“There’s probably no smoke without fire to an extent. Ultimately, if this keeps happening to you, people keep following you around, they’re following you around because you’re going to create a story, even if the story’s minor.
“He’s 29 years old now Jack Grealish, he’s won an awful lot. When you see incidents like this and you see Guardiola hinting at similar things (to Tuchel) and [saying] that: ‘I have no doubts in the quality of Jack Grealish’ – well when you say [that], you’re implying that maybe there’s another reason he’s not in the team. It’s what people don’t say and what they imply that suggests a sort of issue there.”
McInerney believes that the onus is on Grealish to turn his career around and attempt to reach the heights of the historic treble-winning campaign in 2022-23 when he was an integral member of Guardiola’s side.
“Guardiola loved him when we won the treble for what he brought… we know Jack Grealish is wonderful at keeping the ball, slowing things down and he was a large part of that treble success towards the end of that season where we smothered teams, we suffocated them like a Boa constrictor, we were just so oppressive as a side keeping the ball and Jack Grealish was a big part of that.
“But he’s not playing right now despite, I would argue, obvious deficiencies in how Guardiola wants to play, and it makes you ask the question why isn’t he playing? Is there something going on that we don’t know about? Is it just speculation here?
“But then you’ve got Guardiola hinting at things and you’ve got Tuchel essentially saying it’s not a Jack Grealish quality issue, it’s something else – two very high-quality, elite managers here both saying the same things [and] I think some of this has to fall back on Jack Grealish.
“He said to Tuchel, apparently, that I’m a guy who needs a run of games to get to my very best. I’m sure that’s true, but so do a lot of players Jack. It’s on him to turn that around. He’s going to have to win the trust of Guardiola again and Tuchel again.
“He might have it, but how much does he have? Because I can’t help but feel that Guardiola would be leaning on him a lot more as he always has done. I think [Guardiola] needs him to be the best version of Jack Grealish and he’s still not playing him which I think tells a story. I don’t know the full picture, but there is something there.”
“Guardiola is quite frustrated with Jack Grealish”
McInerney is of the opinion that Guardiola is “quite frustrated” with Grealish and has questioned whether the attacker has the mentality of players including Ruben Dias and Erling Haaland to thrive at Man City.
“I’m going to be blunt and try and drop the reasonable head for once – this is just my personal opinion, not necessarily the views of other City fans – but I reckon Guardiola is quite frustrated with Jack Grealish,” said McInerney.
“Grealish essentially implied after [winning] the treble that he completed football and he doesn’t really know where to go from here. That is true to an extent, but it’s an eyebrow-raising thing to say because if you ask Rodri or [Kevin] De Bruyne, they go: ‘We win the league next season, that’s what we do’.
“I know Grealish feels that way too, but I think there’s an element of Grealish telling the truth there and I don’t think Jack Grealish has the mentality of a Ruben Dias or an Erling Haaland… Grealish likes to relax and wind down, there’s nothing wrong with that, but they aren’t the players that spend 10 years at Manchester City, they’re the players who come and disappear and move on after a few years, because I don’t think they have the energy and the emotion and the focus to go 10 years in a row trying to push your body to the extremes.
“I don’t think Jack Grealish has that. I think Jack Grealish has won enough in his head and I really think that’s a psychological issue that Jack Grealish has, and he said that publicly. I don’t think the focus is there and he’s getting on a little bit now, he’s 29, he should be one the statesman of the team.
“Grealish has to accept responsibility”
“If Jack Grealish had been a 100% success, he would be the guy now that would have improved so much at City after winning [the treble], at 29 years old that we lean on now. He would have been one of our key players starting every week.”
Grealish has been linked with a possible summer exit from Man City, and McInerney would not be too surprised to see the ex-Aston Villa man seeks pasture new in the near future.
“Jack Grealish hasn’t turned into [a player Guardiola can lean on]. He had a reasonably slow start, then he peaked and [now] there’s just been more questions with every passing month,” he added.
“There and no questions around Rodri, there are no questions around Haaland, there are no questions around people like that, about their focus or mentality because they answer them with their dedication and performances. You just can’t have that discussion because they don’t let that discussion exist. Jack Grealish does let that discussion exist.
“There are no stories about Haaland drinking at the weekend, or there are no stories about the focus of Ruben Dias, there are no comments from the managers of international sides of most these players because these managers don’t have those doubts.
“I think Grealish has to accept responsibility and my gut is telling me that he doesn’t have the real true elite-level focus to do 10 years at Manchester City. I think he’s won an awful lot and I would guess he will move on.
“He might stay, but I think there’s frustration there behind his professional focus and I think if you believe some of the stories that are around as well, it doesn’t paint the best picture.”
Press play on the video at the top of this article to hear the full discussion.
