Pep Guardiola wrote a rule on the wall of his office at Manchester City’s training base when he moved in. Largely it was a reminder to himself, but also to anybody who happened to visit.
‘First, you have to know what to do. Then, you have to know how to do it.’ There cannot be a truer proverb to sum up Jack Grealish’s 2023-24. He knew what was needed, yet did not seem to know how to make it happen.
So he went to see the manager during the week of May’s FA Cup final to dissect a season that those close to him admit was one to scratch completely. As City made history by winning a fourth consecutive league title, Guardiola had various ways of dealing with Grealish and various feelings towards him.
There were times when the manager’s frustration boiled over, yet there also came sympathy and an understanding of Grealish’s toils.
The City winger’s problems do not make an exhaustive list, but each played a part in a poor season. Grealish’s Treble hangover wouldn’t shift, although he was not alone in that. He suffered three big injuries. And there was a robbery at his new Cheshire home which left the whole family shaken. In between, there was football to be played. He did not do much of that.
When Guardiola and Grealish held talks before City lost the Wembley final to Manchester United — a day when, in need of a goal late on, the manager kept his £100million man on the bench — it was to use the struggles as a platform to move forward.
The crux was this: Guardiola needs to be able to count on him during the coming season. City cannot carry passengers in a year that is going to be more congested than ever, with extra European games and the expanded Club World Cup. That nine months he had just produced cannot happen again. Grealish knew it, but no harm in having it out in the open.
Guardiola had made reference to players who picked up muscle injuries early in games not being fit enough in the first place and the consensus was that those remarks were aimed at Grealish, whose training performances had seen him dropped from the team.
After that chat, Grealish knew what to do. Now he knows how to do it. Hard graft is the only way.
He messaged personal trainer Jamie Reynolds, and the pair went to Quinta do Lago on the Algarve, home of modern sports complex the Campus, where teams often go for warm-weather breaks. The trip came not long after Gareth Southgate delivered the news that Grealish had failed to make the cut for the Euros.
In the fullness of time, that might end up being a blessing for the 29-year-old, who was given an unexpected opportunity to refocus. To say it did not feel like that at the time would be an understatement, Grealish believing he had done enough to warrant a spot in the squad after a bright half-hour cameo in a friendly win over Bosnia at St James’ Park.
‘Devastation,’ Grealish’s friend and former Aston Villa team-mate Joleon Lescott told Mail Sport. ‘I’ve been in a similar situation at the 2010 World Cup. Gutted. Missing that opportunity to play for your country is the worst feeling, so I’m sure it hurt. He’s eager to change that.
‘There are no bad motivations, especially for top players like Jack. He’ll be mentally more in tune and focused. You definitely try to use it, 100 per cent. Physically he looks in great condition.’
While City captain Kyle Walker said Grealish’s season had been below par, and everyone with England was there on merit, some players were mystified as to why Grealish did not travel to Germany.
At one point, it appeared to be having a detrimental effect on morale in the camp. On the day England laboured to a goalless draw with Slovenia, the team really lacking balance off the left, Grealish was at the City Football Academy doing extra off-season work. It shows a man who wants to attack this chance ahead of him.
Holidays in summers past have seen pictures of Grealish lying on a pavement drunk in Tenerife and stumbling out of nightclubs, yet this year seems to have been more sedate.
Friends maintain he is so relatable that his character is gleefully picked apart, and it is hard to argue with that. This summer, he caught some sun and spent time with friend and fellow Villa academy graduate Callum Robinson, now at Cardiff.
The Portuguese heat with Reynolds, with plenty of conditioning and repetitions, looks to have benefited him before City play their first pre-season friendly here in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, against Celtic in the early hours of tomorrow.
It is an easy thing to say on the first few days of a tour, but Grealish has been attentive and ready to work. Noticeably, the smile is back as he trains with Erling Haaland and a smattering of other first-team regulars.
When Guardiola and Grealish spoke during those final days of the campaign, it was already clear that Savinho, a young winger on loan at Girona from sister club Troyes, had proven himself sufficiently in La Liga to stay in Guardiola’s squad.
The Brazilian, who made his international debut against England in March, cost £33m and is now nailed on to provide more competition in Grealish’s area of the pitch. The one thing going for Grealish now is that, like Jeremy Doku, Savinho is on holiday after Brazil reached the last eight of the Copa America, so City’s No 10 has a fortnight to showcase the strides he has made.
He needs to show that Portugal was worth it, that using the City Football Academy when nobody was around was worth it and that turning up four days before pre-season for more individual sessions was worth it. The shirt should be his when Chelsea comes around on the opening weekend and it will be up to him to keep it.
His first major explosion in a City shirt came after the 2022 World Cup.
He learned that he is primarily the out-ball in Guardiola’s system. While still carrying an attacking threat, he is the one who carries the ball to offer others a breather, to retain possession, manoeuvre defences and win free-kicks. He flew after that realisation, becoming an integral part of how City function. And they function far better when Grealish is in the side.
It would come off the back of a difficult first season, with coaches adamant that something would spark a major improvement in the second and he would take it by storm. They were right. Grealish will hope those similarities, on the back of a tournament and a tricky campaign, can continue.
A little bit of time off should reset him. His girlfriend, Sasha Attwood, announced a fortnight ago that she is expecting their first child.
‘I spoke to Jack recently and he’s excited for what life is going to bring him in the months to come,’ Lescott adds. ‘The break will have done him good.’
He was off the hamster wheel for a while. The year following the Treble — for which he became synonymous with those extended celebrations, the iconic picture on the party bus in the rain and the mammoth 18-hour Ibiza trip — ended up becoming a relentless game of chasing his tail.
In a desperate attempt to prove his worth, he returned too quickly from injuries, inflicting more damage. It only exacerbated his existing inner turmoil and progressively he became worse.
He cried watching the final episode of City’s Netflix documentary when it aired in April, reliving the Champions League triumph in Istanbul, and it could be that the tears were for both the emotion of those memories and how he could not rouse himself to contribute fully thereafter.
It is why he wants to forget last year, the 10 Premier League starts and fleeting moments of importance. As Guardiola said, looking forward is his only option now. The next two weeks in the United States should give us a good picture of the new, improved Jack Grealish.
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