Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola explained on Tuesday that Jack Grealish was dropped because the English star winger needed to rediscover his love of football after being left out of the squad for the Club World Cup in the United States.
“Jack is an exceptional player. The only reason he didn’t play last season was of course my decisions. We decided it was best that he stays and has a place where he can get back to what he was in the year of the treble or all his career at Aston Villa,” said Guardiola in Philadelphia, where City will play Wydad Casablanca in their opening game on Wednesday.
Grealish has started only 10 Premier League games in the 2024-25 season and only 16 times across all competitions in this campaign after the City in 2021. He was a standout on their run to Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup glory in 2023.
“Without Grealish, it would have been more difficult to achieve what we did in the treble season, but the fact is that the last two seasons he has not played much minutes. Grealish has to get back to playing and having the butterflies in his stomach that he needs to play every three days,” he added.
Man City added four new signings — Dutch midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, exciting French creator Rayan Cherki, left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri and back-up goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli — in the recent transfer window to freshen up their squad for the Club World Cup.
“We are really pleased because all of them have huge quality. With this incredible amount of games we have until the end of the season, 11 months, every three or four days, everyone is going to play,” he said.
City finished third in the Premier League behind winner Liverpool and second-placed Arsenal this season and also missed out on any silverware.
