From football’s poster boy to bench-warmer… Grealish now has more brand deals than goals & even keeper has more assists
THE images are iconic - a topless Jack Grealish, drenched by rain, fuelled by an almighty booze bender, riding an open-top bus and the crest of a wave.
Manchester City had just won the Treble and the most expensive player ever purchased by English football’s richest club had played a major role in an historic triumph.
But a year and a half later, what the hell has happened to Grealish?
City’s Brummie wideman can barely get a game - he has played just 33 minutes of Premier League football since Christmas and has been an unused sub in four of City’s last six matches in the competition.
Grealish is a creative player who has provided fewer Premier League assists (one) than goalkeeper Ederson (two) this season.
And since that 2023 Treble, Grealish has had more sponsorship deals than his six top-flight goal involvements.
He is a face of Gucci, of Pepsi, of Puma, of Bose audio equipment, of Airwayz drones and of Kinetica Sports nutrition.
Last summer, cardboard cut-outs of Grealish adorned our supermarkets, urging us to spread Hellman’s mayonnaise on our barbecue burgers, while watching England at the Euros.
Except that Grealish wasn’t there in Germany. He had been axed from Gareth Southgate’s squad, a shock late omission which prompted near-mutiny among some of his team-mates.
Grealish is a hugely popular figure with fellow players, one of those infectious personalities who illuminate a dressing-room.
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To England supporters he has been a cult hero, with his relative lack of game time often used as a stick with which to clobber the supposedly-cautious Southgate.
Commercial partners lap up the good looks and ready smile that make him a natural-born poster boy.
Grealish, whose sister Hollie has cerebral palsy, frequently engages with disabled fans in person and with video messages, as well as being an ambassador for Special Olympics UK.
Also, you won’t find too many members of the media delighting in Grealish’s descent - a sitdown interview with ‘Super Jack’ is a rare pleasure. The man is honest and engaging with a wicked sense of humour.
The problem is the actual football.
Asked about his decision to select Brazilian winger Savinho over Grealish in the 4-1 win over West Ham last month, Pep Guardiola was almost as brutal about his player as Ruben Amorim had been about Marcus Rashford.
Although, while Rashford attracted plenty of interest during the January window before joining Aston Villa on loan, the idea of a move for Grealish was never seriously mooted.
A sitdown interview with ‘Super Jack’ is a rare pleasure. The man is honest and engaging with a wicked sense of humour. The problem is the actual football.
After that West Ham win, Guardiola said: “Savinho is in better shape and everything than Jack and that’s why I played Savinho.
“Do I want the Jack that won the Treble? Yeah, I want it, but I try to be honest with myself.
"They have to fight. You can say it's unfair. Okay, if you think that, then it's fine, but you have to prove (to me), 'Okay, I'm going to fight with Savinho, to deserve to play in that position', every single day, every single week and every single month.
"I don't have any doubt about the quality of Jack… I fought a lot for him to be here.
"I know that he can do it because I saw him. I saw his level and I want that, every single training session and every single game."
This strongly hinted that - like Rashford at United - Grealish has not been training or preparing well enough.
And since then, Grealish’s only Premier League appearance came as a sub at Ipswich, when City were already 5-0 up.
Over the next five days, City will face Leyton Orient and Real Madrid.
Grealish might get a run-out at Brisbane Road in the FA Cup on Saturday but is highly unlikely to start against the 15-time champions of Europe on Tuesday night.
So what has gone wrong?
Since his £100million arrival from Villa in 2021, there has often been a feeling that Guardiola has clipped Grealish’s wings, stifling his natural tendency to dribble and beat defenders, taking much of the joy out of his game.
Southgate’s reluctance to start Grealish - who won 20 of his 36 caps from the bench during the former England manager’s reign - was born of the idea that the player was at his best as the main man in a limited Villa side.
That he is a ‘big fish in a small pond’ player and that for England, as well as City, his influence is reduced.
His reputation as a pretty-boy poser is lazy and unfair. Grealish is a fighter, who has taken more kickings than most, on and off the field.
Interestingly, in three appearances as a No 10 under Lee Carsley, Grealish scored twice - doubling his international goals tally before he thanked the interim boss for "bringing back the enjoyment in an England shirt".
There is a widespread image of Grealish as a show pony, as Scotland’s Stephen O’Donnell admitted when he went public with his wind-up tactics after the goalless draw with the auld enemy at the Euros in 2021.
“I was telling him how good looking he was and that I loved his calves,” said O’Donnell. “I was asking him how he got his hair like that.”
Grealish engaged in ‘banter’ about his famous calves in a surreal exchange with the Shrek character Donkey on a pre-season trip to Orlando Universal Resort last summer.
But his reputation as a pretty-boy poser is lazy and unfair.
Grealish is a fighter, who has taken more kickings than most, on and off the field.
He became a father last year, will turn 30 this September and is contracted to City until 2027.
With City well stocked for widemen - Savinho, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Jeremy Doku, as well as their new versatile £59million forward Omar Marmoush - it is surely time for him to seek a new challenge this summer.
Grealish is too talented a footballer to warm the bench for much longer.
He must rediscover the sense of adventure that made him a Treble-winner on a double-decker with a singular ability to light up a football ground.
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