Why Jack Grealish is in danger of running out of chances at Man City – and what the £100m star can do to get back to his best at the Etihad, writes JACK GAUGHAN

During the quieter moments inside Manchester City’s dressing room in that lull after matches and immediate debriefs, as some amble out and others loiter, Jack Grealish would perch at his locker and talk.

Routinely one of the last out, Grealish loved being in that environment in his opening years at City, when new to it all, new to a spot in this group of supreme talent where winning was everything.

He would open a bottle of Asahi and converse openly about his dreams and aspirations. About how lucky he was to be sitting there. Relaxed, content, before slipping out the back door and home.

Those around him valued those discussions, the soft Grealish away from the cameras and the one who conveyed something akin to imposter syndrome, in the truest and most relatable sense. While realising his own unique ability, Grealish, it is fair to say, could not believe City had committed to such an investment.

There was genuine shock that they had given him the No 10 shirt. Has there been another £100million signing in the game who would be surprised by that? This and a whole lot more — for club staff, he is always a banker to send heartfelt and thoughtful messages to supporters in need — is why they adore Grealish at City. He is real, he is imperfect, he is raw. He is your ordinary man plucked off the street to play Champions League finals and win them.

He is a link between footballers and normal Britain. And that is probably why he is incessantly jeered at every away ground.

He has found himself on the bench regularly this season and time is running out for him

A jubilant Grealish celebrates winning the Treble with Manchester City back in 2022-23 

But he is also somebody in severe danger of missing the train at City and somebody, sources say, who could have better served himself over the past 18 months.

With four new signings, the wheels are already turning slowly and Grealish will need to break out into a trot to keep up as Pep Guardiola’s new era sets off.

This was supposed to be the reset, the turning of a page, the season Grealish returned to being Grealish. Last year, the post-Treble comedown, was effectively a write-off and he knew it, admitting to not really knowing how to return to normality after the mountain had been scaled. He was busy surveying the view, taking pictures.

That has never been the City way, though. The City way, under Guardiola, is to return to the bottom and do a U-turn back up without flinching.

Grealish, meanwhile, asked himself whether any happiness will ever come close to the sort he has already experienced. In a hotel room before one away game last season, he became emotional watching the club’s Netflix documentary reliving those historic few months.

Guardiola was broadly understanding of all this. He did make veiled criticism of performances and application but is understood to have held plenty of discussions with Grealish about climbing that peak again, what it means to become a real great.

The player has said he owes his manager a lot, which points to personal concessions during and after those chats. They are wildly different personalities in how to approach the game but worked alongside each other as City became only the second English club ever to win the Treble, so clearly opposites can attract.

City have wanted ‘Jack back,’ as Guardiola so often says. And quite right too, because that previous incarnation of Grealish wasn’t bad at all.

Pep Guardiola is desperate to get the best out of Grealish, but he has struggled for consistency

Guardiola could do with having the best version of Grealish in what’s been a difficult season

During the run-in two years ago, there were four players who were mainstays for 12 consecutive matches until mid-May as City ate up the ground on Arsenal: Ederson, Rodri, Ruben Dias and Grealish. The first three were imperative, a backbone to their success, so — ignoring any choice revisionism over his role that year — the fourth must have been pretty important as well.

An integral part of that team, he took opponents out of the game with his running and bought precious time by holding on to possession when City strangled the life out of matches. He did the bits before the bits you see on the highlights and, on the pitch, that has been Grealish’s unfortunate undoing at City: not enough goals or assists — 39 in 150 games. He is mindful of that and Guardiola claims he wants him to be more expressive, amid accusations he has coached the genius out of him.

The other stuff is not appreciated by the wider public and when the dip comes, as it did last season and again this term, those numbers look disappointing at best. A goal contribution every 3.8 games, compared to one every 2.9 games at Aston Villa, where Grealish was this unshackled maverick who delighted neutrals.

Be that as it may, the output is not hugely different — especially when you remember everything went through him at Villa in a far freer role, cutting in from the left-hand side.

His best displays this term have come in the middle, at No 8 in a win over Nottingham Forest, and as effectively a deep-lying midfielder in defeat at Juventus.

City believe the money was well spent, given the Treble and Grealish’s individual contribution that year, but have been left wanting more since. Recently Grealish claimed that, aside from the birth of his baby daughter Mila in September, the past 12 months have been the hardest of his life, without going into detail.

Grealish had the summer off after being snubbed for the Euros and wanted to hit the ground running ahead of the new season, but he has fallen down the pecking order at City

As Manchester City’s most expensive player in history, expectations are sky high for Grealish

When dissecting his snub from Gareth Southgate’s European Championship squad in the summer, Grealish spoke about how he was ready to hit the ground running and that having a two-week head start on those who had gone to the tournament and turned up late for pre-season would see him steal a march. The off-season was spent in Portugal doing extra work with a personal trainer; it looked like he was all in to bounce back.

Yet almost as soon as City returned from their tour of America, Grealish suffered an injury in training, missed the Community Shield and started only two of their opening five Premier League games. His first appearance, 19 minutes off the bench against Ipswich, was memorable only for a tiff with Guardiola on the touchline after not promptly emerging from his seat when called upon.

By the time the internationals had sharpened their fitness in October, he couldn’t muscle a way back in. Now here we are, at the end of February with him having not played 90 minutes in consecutive matches all season, having played as many full matches for England (two) as in the Premier League, and with two club goals — one at home against Salford City in the FA Cup. Again, as many as with England.

It’s been a slow drift to the point where it is barely noteworthy anymore to see the 29-year-old’s name among the substitutes. Guardiola is rarely asked about Grealish in terms of selection and there may be a decision to make for both parties in the summer.

Rumours swirled ahead of January that he could depart — denied by the club and those close to Grealish — but it did not come to pass. Much of what will happen in the summer depends on the next three months and to offer a fair reflection of where he is at and where he fits, Grealish needs to remain injury-free.

‘He has to compete with himself,’ Guardiola said last month. ‘Savinho is in better shape and everything than Jack and that’s why I played Savinho. I want the Jack that won the Treble. I want it. But I try to be honest with myself for that.

‘And they have to fight. You can say, “OK, it’s unfair”. If you think that, then it’s fine. But you have to prove, every single day and every single week and month.’

Evidently Guardiola has seen something in Grealish since then. An appearance at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, where he scored, served as a reminder of his ability while Savinho, Jeremy Doku and Omar Marmoush act as roadblocks to him, and then Grealish was thrown the shirt for Real Madrid at home last month.

The likes of Jeremy Doku (left) and Savinho (right) have both jumped ahead of Grealish at City

The sharp decline in domestic form has also seen Grealish lose his place in the England team

A huge call but one Guardiola will not have taken lightly, which points to him having done the right things in training. Because if you don’t train properly, you don’t play — as Grealish and countless others have found to their cost.

Guardiola cuts players far more slack than in his earlier coaching career, allowing for socialising, as long as they are 100 per cent during training. 

Grealish came off in that play-off first leg with an abductor injury after 45 encouraging minutes and it has since emerged he had an injection to numb the problem in order to play. 

That came after an unspecified injury picked up on Christmas Eve before the Boxing Day draw with Everton, in which Grealish had been slated to start.

Another injury that wasn’t revealed publicly in October led to a situation which enraged Guardiola, as Lee Carsley named Grealish in his England squad despite the player not having trained for three weeks. It was a bitter club-versus-country row.

Interestingly, Carsley’s first act as interim coach had been to reinstate Grealish in the squad after Southgate’s omission and new boss Thomas Tuchel is believed to have made contact ahead of his bow later this month.

Guardiola said of Grealish on Friday: ‘There is no question mark about his quality. I’ve never doubted the quality. But because of problems he has not played three games in a row. He played well against Forest then didn’t play and in a training session was injured again. Not big issues but he could not make a big effort and sprint again and again. This is the only question mark.’

Grealish’s friends have said he struggled with personal problems just before Christmas and accept he occasionally finds it difficult to compartmentalise setbacks and can spiral when frustrated. Heart can rule the head.

He was first dropped by Gareth Southgate and has been fighting hard to work his way back in

Grealish will likely start against Plymouth and must start performing and playing with a smile

He was captured arguing with paparazzi outside Chiltern Firehouse, a restaurant in Marylebone, 24 hours after the Madrid match when in London for scans on his injury. The evening in the capital brought conjecture with it after Grealish and friend Jaydon Gibbs left at the same time as a young woman just before midnight. His stay in London is said to have extended into the weekend at a five-star hotel on the banks of the Thames.

Guardiola has him back now and he will likely start against Plymouth in the FA Cup on Saturday night. Grealish has disagreed with his manager over selection and is desperate to play a more active role. Aware there was a fight on his hands in September, he flew up to Newcastle for an early Saturday kick-off in the small hours after partner Sasha Attwood had given birth to Mila.

There is still that inner steel and Grealish needs to use his frustration positively to prove a few points if these aren’t to be his final few months at City.