There’s a role in Manchester City’s rebuild for Jack Grealish but he must stay fit and perform | OneFootball

One player who appears to be playing for his Manchester City future is Jack Grealish. The England international has had a disappointing 24/25 season. That follows on from a 23/24 season that flattered to deceive. Injuries and a failure to make a meaningful impact in games have seen Grealish fall down the pecking order at Manchester City.

But Jack Grealish did put in a good performance in Manchester City’s 3-1 fifth-round FA Cup tie win over Plymouth Argyle yesterday at the Etihad. That performance showed that there could be a role for the England international to play in City’s rebuild. But he must get his body right, stay fit and perform when given the opportunity.

Yesterday, Jack Grealish did just that. He played well against a packed Plymouth Argyle defence. The England international was arguably City’s most dangerous attacking player in the second half of yesterday’s match. In statistics sourced from SofaScore, Grealish completed 65/73 passes yesterday. He was instrumental in Manchester City maintaining control of yesterday’s match. Grealish also completed 6 out of his 9 dribbles and created one big chance for Erling Haaland in the second half which was saved by Conor Hazard in the Plymouth goal.

But the challenge for Jack Grealish is to play like he did yesterday against more fancied opponents. That isn’t a knock on Plymouth Argyle but Manchester City do play a higher quality of opponents every game. Grealish must step up in those games to be a part of City’s rebuild. But to do that the England international must stay fit. That’s another issue in Grealish’s game. When he is fit, he offers something different out wide than Savinho, Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva offer. He offers the control that Pep Guardiola craves but he can also be a creative outlet for Manchester City. The problem is that we don’t see him on the pitch often enough.

Pep Guardiola praised the performance of Jack Grealish after his team’s win yesterday. Speaking after the game he said: “Jack [Grealish] played really good. Vitor [Reis] played really good. All of them. Nico. We had a lot of possession with patience because they want to make transitions. Really pleased for the performance.”

At his best there is a role for Jack Grealish to play in Manchester City’s rebuild. The challenge for Grealish is to show it over the closing stages of this season. If he does he may play himself back into the City lineup with more regularity which will set him up to be an important squad player in Manchester City’s rebuild.