So where is Jack Grealish now? It feels like a brutal question and over there on the Manchester City bench contemplating his next birthday – his 30th – would be an appropriately cruel answer.
Unfortunately for Grealish, it is one containing truth.
It’s facetious, of course, but there is too much accuracy involved to ignore: here we are at the start of 2025 with Grealish 29, a serial Premier League winner – among much else – and he is still an uncertain and unsettled presence in City’s and our collective perception.
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That such questions can be asked 18 months after Grealish was a full participant in City’s treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League tells us something. Grealish will have his answers, unquestionably; yet somehow we’re still unsure.
Really, we should be past this stage of talking about Jack. But we’re not, because while once the Grealish debate at City focused on what his role was under Pep Guardiola and why it seemed to be so inhibited, it has now shifted five yards off the pitch and to whether Grealish will even get back on to resume a tactical conversation.
Last Saturday, in the 84th minute of a game City were winning 4-1 against West Ham United, Grealish was summoned from said home bench to see out a match already over as a contest. This was no game-changing substitution.
This was a procedure. It was marginally better than the previous game, away at Leicester City, when Grealish was “unused”. Still, it cannot have been a thrill for him.
And then it got worse. In the post-match press conference Guardiola, taut and animated despite the scoreline, spoke of the contrast between Savinho and Grealish in a way that was of no comfort to the latter player.
Savinho had been selected ahead of Grealish and had delivered, literally. His shot was deflected in for City’s opener and Savinho then supplied crosses for Erling Haaland to score twice. Overall, City retain the look of a team in shock, staring from the roadside at their season turning into some bizarre traffic accident, but Savinho, signed from Girona last summer, offers them a route to recovery.
And at 20, Savinho has it all in front of him. This was a significant detail as Guardiola began his compare-and-contrast Savinho-Grealish assessment. Guardiola’s tone was one of concern laced with frustration as each comment laid another layer. Each one was important.
But perhaps the crucial line in terms of Guardiola the coach, the mentor, the master of City’s playing resources, came when he referred to Grealish and others and said: “They have to, right now, today at 3pm, be at your best. It’s not about what they have done or will do, it’s about 3pm.”
The new BBC documentary on Alex Ferguson stresses and re-stresses his impatience with success and his near-addictive craving to move on, but he is not alone. Guardiola is similar. Both men know the past, but they also know the reality of professional football is the here and now and tomorrow. Hence Guardiola jokingly reminded the room he was a pretty good footballer himself, but he couldn’t do it now. He is 54 next week.
His message, blunt and non-negotiable, was the same for Grealish. It is not about what he has done before, it’s about what comes next.
The player will know this; he is into his fourth season inside Guardiola’s City. Anyone who has been there – inside – knows Guardiola makes judgments based on today, not yesterday.
Ferguson was the same and as with his great squads at Manchester United, Guardiola has City squads laden with alternatives. Club-mates are also competitors.
“As much as he looks at himself,” Guardiola said of Grealish, “he will see the competition. And he has to compete, himself.
“Savinho is in better shape and everything than Jack, and that’s why I played Savinho. I want the Jack that won the Treble? Yeah, I want it. But I try to be honest with myself for that.”
This was not arm-around-the-shoulder management, this was a jab, a public prodding. It was a warning.
Guardiola did accept Grealish had been injured and said he “needs rhythm and to play”. But the coach added “players need training”, which led him on to the point about being ready at 3pm on a Saturday. “The responsibility belongs to the players, not to me.”
What may privately disappoint and vex Guardiola is that if ever there was a moment in the modern City story made for someone who thought they were in the shade to step out of it and glow, late 2024 was it. This was a time made for a spurt of leadership, especially from a senior player. How Guardiola could have done with someone other than himself leading, directing, inspiring amid this amazing stasis.
Grealish could have been the one, the player who said we’ve got to forget about Rodri and deal with it. Grealish, in fact, received praise from his coach and Kevin De Bruyne for his display in Rodri’s role against Nottingham Forest at the start of December. It was City’s one win in a run of 13 matches and Guardiola noted Grealish’s “composure” and “acceleration”.
Three days later at Crystal Palace, Grealish spent the first 86 minutes on the bench. “Fresh energy,” was Guardiola’s explanation.
It was one of 19 City appearances from Grealish this season but only 10 have been from the start and only four have been to the final whistle. Another statistic with a profile is that Grealish went through 2024 without scoring for City.
Yet on one level his season had started brightly. The former Irish underage international returned to the green grass of home and scored for England at Lansdowne Road. You may recall.
[ England panto villains Rice and Grealish show no mercy to the boys in greenOpens in new window ]
But that was the exception, and to the original question of where Grealish is now, an answer is today, 5.45pm, the FA Cup. City’s visitors are Salford. Noisy neighbours, potentially.
The Cup was once a career springboard for Grealish – the 2015 semi-final performance at Wembley for Villa against Liverpool as a teenager was a standout. He was the one replaced after 84 minutes that day.
Today he could read selection either way; where he could go from here is another question. Who else could afford him? A £100 million player on skyscraper wages may not have the options of a promising 19-year-old.
Grealish is contracted to City until 2027. That will look like a far horizon to Guardiola. He can see a daunting run of fixtures until the end of February. No wonder he wants his Treble Jack back.
