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Getty
Richard Martin
Jun 08, 2024 09:00+02:00
52


JACK GREALISH'S EURO 2024 SNUB MUST BE A WAKE-UP CALL TO GET OUT OF MAN CITY AND
REVIVE HIS ENGLAND CAREER

OpinionManchester CityJack GrealishEnglandEuropean ChampionshipPremier
LeagueFEATURES

The midfielder has lagged behind his competitors and is in danger of wasting the
best days of his career like Paul Gascoigne did



Jack Grealish must have thought he had done enough to get in England's Euro 2024
squad. Despite a frustrating, injury-interrupted season, he showed his ability
to make the difference after coming off the bench against Bosnia & Herzegovina
on Monday.

He set up Trent Alexander-Arnold's goal which effectively killed the game off,
teasing a defender on the left wing while closely guarding the ball before
quickly cutting inside and delivering a searching cross to his team-mate.
Minutes later, he showcased his ability to suck defenders in, taking out two
opponents before giving the ball back to James Maddison, leading to Harry Kane
bundling in the third goal.

Grealish's cameo was a reminder of the value he brings as a highly-experienced
player at a truly elite club and looked to have won him a seat on the plane to
Germany. But, ultimately, it was too little, too late.

Article continues below

 * Getty
   
   
   
   SOUTHGATE'S LATEST VICTIM
   
   Gareth Southgate's decision to leave Grealish out of his final 26-man squad
   for the tournament may have left the player devastated and shocked his
   team-mates, including Declan Rice. But including him was always a risk after
   the disappointing season he has had, which contrasts with the consistent form
   his fellow attacking midfielders had shown.
   
   Southgate has often been criticised for his perceived loyalty to the old
   guard and not always picking the most in-form players, but this year he has
   done no such thing. He showed no mercy to Marcus Rashford and Jordan
   Henderson after their miserable seasons when he banished them from the
   preliminary squad, having already cut Raheem Sterling and Kalvin Phillips
   loose.
   
   Grealish had been a big part of England's campaigns at the 2022 World Cup and
   previous European Championship, and Southgate said after the Bosnia game that
   he was "a player that we love having with the group.. a great character to
   work with".

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 * Getty
   
   
   
   LAGGING BEHIND
   
   But Grealish has been lagging behind his competitors this season. He started
   just 10 Premier League games for City, scoring three goals and providing one
   assist. That's only four goal contributions all season, as many as City
   defenders Nathan Ake and Kyle Walker, and fewer than Josko Gvardiol.
   
   Jarrod Bowen contributed to 22 goals for West Ham, who finished ninth in the
   league. Anthony Gordon got 21 for Newcastle to force his way into Southgate's
   plans, while Eberechi Eze, who played a massive part in Crystal Palace's
   resurgence, finished the campaign with 15 goal contributions.
   
   Phil Foden, who Grealish had usurped in the City line-up the previous term,
   got 27 goal contributions on his way to being named Premier League Player of
   the Season. Bukayo Saka, meanwhile, got 25, while Cole Palmer provided a
   colossal 33.
   
   Unlike in previous tournaments, where the likes of Phillips and Henderson
   kept their place due to a lack of competition, the bar to get into the
   England squad has been raised to skyscraper levels. Grealish has not been
   able to keep up, and he will have to take radical steps to get back into the
   national team.

 * 
 * Getty
   
   
   
   RAVAGED BY INJURIES
   
   Grealish's season was hindered by an untimely clash with Sheffield United
   player Ollie McBurnie in August, which the player called "the worst injury
   I've ever had". The dead leg he suffered sidelined him for six games, and he
   succumbed to two muscular injuries later in the campaign, against Copenhagen
   and Luton Town, which further disrupted his flow.
   
   He also fell ill in November, and in December had to deal with a traumatic
   break-in at his house while he was playing away at Everton. It would be
   tempting to view the last season as a write-off, an anomaly that won't be
   repeated.
   
   But merely staying injury-free next term is unlikely to be enough to reclaim
   his place in the City team, and by extension the England side.

 * Getty
   
   
   
   AFTERTHOUGHT
   
   Even when he had put his injury issues behind him, Grealish was a mere
   afterthought for Guardiola at the business end of the season, playing just 10
   minutes in City's final five games. He missed the trip to Fulham altogether
   and was an unused substitute in the last two games against Tottenham and West
   Ham, as well as in the FA Cup final defeat by Manchester United.
   
   In some of those games, Guardiola dispensed with traditional wingers
   altogether, using Gvardiol as an inverted full-back and pushing Foden inside.
   On other occasions when he did want a probing left-winger, he turned to
   Jeremy Doku.
   
   The Belgian appeared in all of the final five games, starting and providing
   an assist against West Ham while making a real difference when he was brought
   on against United at Wembley, scoring and almost dragging City level.
   
   Guardiola treaded carefully when asked after the FA Cup final why he used
   Grealish so little. The City manager said: "He will be back. He’s struggled
   this season and Jeremy [Doku] has made an incredible step forward as everyone
   has seen in the last games. But Jack will be back at the level of last
   season, I'm pretty sure."

 * 
 * Getty
   
   
   
   CROSSROADS
   
   But it has become increasingly clear that City is not the right home for
   Grealish if he aspires to be more than a squad player, which is what it will
   take to win his place back in the England team.
   
   City and Guardiola's insanely high standards were illustrated by the fact
   when Grealish had finally settled into the team two years after his £100
   million ($127m) move from Aston Villa and played a huge part in winning the
   treble, the club decided to go and spend £55.5m ($70m) on Doku, a direct
   competitor for his position.
   
   Grealish is far from the only City player to lose his place in the team so
   soon after an excellent season, as Joao Cancelo can attest to. But he is too
   talented and too influential to waste his peak years jostling for a starting
   berth at the Etihad Stadium.
   
   "He is, for me, at a crossroads in his City career. Jack is 28. He needs to
   have a close look at himself. He should be in his pomp," Graeme Souness said
   on Talksport in December. "Between 26 and 30 you have the knowledge, you’re
   physically and mentally stronger. He will not be getting any better. This
   should be his time. So, if I was him, I would be very concerned."
   
   And now, after he has been excluded from the England squad for a tournament
   which should have been a career highlight, Grealish's need to get away from
   City and to a club that truly cherishes him has become more urgent.

 * Getty
   
   
   
   ANOTHER GAZZA?
   
   Southgate said Grealish was "devastated" about being dropped, but it is up to
   him how he reacts to it. He can either sulk and spend the summer drowning his
   sorrows, entrenching his image as a party boy, or he can use it as a wake-up
   call and plot his way back into the England team, with the 2026 World Cup as
   his main objective.
   
   While he was celebrating City's treble win last year, Grealish went viral for
   telling the adoring crowd of fans "I'm a turkey and the turkey needs feeding"
   before having vodka poured down his throat. The image was compared to Paul
   Gascoigne guzzling alcohol while lying in the infamous 'Dentist's Chair' in a
   bar in Hong Kong while still an England star in 1996.
   
   Grealish's antics were cheered on by the media and pundits, but what happened
   to Gascoigne is nothing to celebrate, and Grealish now finds himself in the
   same predicament as 'Gazza', who was dropped from the England team for the
   1998 World Cup. That was also a shock at the time, but with hindsight it
   should have been easy to predict. Gascoigne's career was on a downhill path
   and by then he was playing for Middlesbrough, outside of the Premier League.
   
   Grealish's career is also in danger of getting away from him, but he still
   has time to get it back on track. And that means leaving City and becoming
   better known for his feats on the pitch than his debauched celebrations.

 * 




QUIZZES

 * Quiz: Only an Arsenal superfan can name at least 12/15 of these club legends
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 * Quiz: Only an England superfan can name at least 12/15 of these national team
   legends
 * Quiz: Only an Argentina superfan can name at least 12/15 of these national
   team legends




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