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When Jack Grealish joined Manchester City from Aston Villa in 2021 for 100 million pounds he was expected to be a finished product, but that’s not how Pep Guardiola does business. It takes time for players to fit into his system and Grealish was no different. He came in and out of the starting lineup, scoring six goals and assisting four more across all competitions. It was a good season, but not one you’d call worthy of the hefty price tag. But this season, Grealish has arrived in a big way. As City swept away Southampton 4-1 on Saturday, Grealish scored a goal and assisted another and he’s becoming one of the bigger influences on the attack in his second season at the Etihad.
This season, Grealish has scored five goals and assisted nine goals in all competitions with plenty of matches to come. While some of the uptick in counting stats is due to the arrival of a goal scoring robot named Erling Haaland, Grealish’s improvement isn’t all down to his attack partner.
If you built a winger in a lab for Guardiola, Grealish would be the product. Can he beat his defender on the dribble? Check. What about tracking back in defense to make critical tackles? Got that too. Shoots with confidence? Yep. Finally, are they willing to set up their teammates and cross into tight spaces with pinpoint accuracy? Grealish can also do that.
It took a bit for him to adjust to City’s style of play as everything went through Grealish at Aston Villa, but now creating space for others is almost as important — if not more important — than actually scoring goals for City. The team knows that if the ball circulates enough that Kevin de Buyne will find the right pass to create a goal and Haaland will certainly finish his own chances. Now that Grealish has made those adjustments, both he and the team are flourishing.
After scoring City’s second goal to get insurance in the match, Grealish then sealed the deal setting up Haaland for a highlight reel finish. But the build up here is, again, important. It begins with de Bruyne from deep. He sees that Grealish has a step on his man, the Belgian was able to feed him, leading to the assist and another three points for City. Rinse and repeat like clockwork.
It’s connections like these that have made this City squad the favorites to win Champions League (you can catch all the action on Paramount+). It’s the one honor that City haven’t yet captured, so while they’d like to win the Premier League where they currently trail Arsenal by five points if only one more trophy can be secured this season, it should be where the team can become champions of Europe.
To get past Bayern Munich in the next round, Haaland, de Bruyne, and Grealish will need to be at the top of their game to ensure that City has the best chance possible. Now fitting into his role and helping the team win, Grealish will raise their possibility of bringing the one trophy that City lacks back to Manchester.
