Playing almost exclusively in the front three of a team that has racked up 147 goals across 57 games in all competitions, the 26-year-old’s tally of six goals and four assists doesn’t do much to shift the needle. The very fact a player with Grealish’s price tag is not guaranteed to start against Villa speaks volumes enough in some respects. “But now he will realise that the day after everything is all about ‘oh, you have one…’." How many goals and assists has Jack Grealish got for Man City? “Of course, for who has never won a Premier League, it must be so exciting, so important,” Guardiola said. Yet still there remains the thorny issue of him failing to win the Champions League since 2011 and City’s well-upholstered squad leading some observers to go “huh, well what did you expect?”, irrespective of the awesome sporting challenge posed by Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. If City get over the line, it will be his 10th league title in 13 top-division attempts, including his previous spells at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Guardiola knows this more than most and he has worn this knowledge in alternately sarcastic and salty public utterances over recent weeks, as the title race remained on a knife-edge. However, costing £100m is not quite so romantic, nor are the relentless demands of winning and winning again at the elite level. There is a comic book, throwback quality to Grealish that endears, and there have been plenty of flashes of that in sky blue. ![]() Part of the appeal of the player England fans fell in love with during Euro 2020 was the off-the-cuff nature of his play, the sheer joy he exudes when sizing a full-back up with his socks slung low around those mighty calves. It was an answer that got to the heart of tension that has been at play during Grealish’s first season at City. Tomorrow, we will see if he will defend the title in every single Premier League game next season. “After you can reach, of course, it’s magnificent. ![]() If he is comfortable playing, getting better and getting better, that is the most important thing. “Does he feel happy here? That is the most important thing. That’s all? All the effort for that? Yeah, it’s good, one in your curriculum vitae but no more than that. “You feel alone after winning, after two or three days. Be happy doing your job,” he said at his pre-match news conference. “My advice to him is try to be happy as much as possible playing football, this is more important than winning the titles. Guardiola has more modest ambitions for the player who will remain his most expensive acquisition at City, even after Erling Haaland comes through the door during pre-season. What has Pep Guardiola told Jack Grealish? MORE: How Liverpool can still win the Premier League - The story of how Jurgen Klopp's men refused to leave Man City aloneĪ decade on from Sergio Aguero’s immortal winner against Queens Park Rangers to snatch Premier League glory for City, the prospect of Grealish doing something similar - possibly resulting in the most forced respectful non-celebration of all-time - is just as tantalising as the Hollywood-worthy Gerrard intervention being fantasised over on Merseyside. The England international’s £100 million British record move from Villa to City last year was not met with universal approval and there will be some of those former admirers who would relish the prospect of Grealish’s boyhood club leaving him trophy-less at the end of first season chasing the biggest honours. But there is another serendipitous storyline to be had on matchday 38.Ĭity attacker Jack Grealish could line up against the club he supported and adored as a child before captaining them as a young man, becoming a hero on the Holte End for the Villa fans he once sat alongside. Gerrard understandably seemed a little irritated that talk to this end had extended to people questioning how hard his players might try during Thursday’s 1-1 draw against Burnley. Plotting to thwart Guardiola is Villa manager Steven Gerrard, arguably Liverpool’s greatest ever player who never managed to win the Premier League - coming closest in 2013/14, when his infamous slip against Chelsea during the run-in contributed to City pipping Brendan Rodgers’ Reds on the final day. ![]() ![]() Pep Guardiola’s team need a win to be sure of denying Liverpool the title and lifting the top prize in England for the fourth time in five seasons. It’s been hard to escape the booming narrative around Manchester City’s final day tussle with Aston Villa in the Premier League.
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