It’s been almost a year since Jack Grealish stepped off Manchester City’s party bus, wrung the beer out of his shirt and joined the England squad for a Euro 2024 qualifier in Malta.
It was hot, it was sunny and Grealish’s positioning as the new poster boy for English football was complete.
Grealish was 27 years old, won the treble and was the face of the Gucci fashion brand. But even then there was a sense of possible impermanence. After all, England had been through this situation before with talented, almost maverick players, and it hadn’t always worked out.
So on a Thursday night last June, coach Gareth Southgate stood in a hallway at Malta’s Ta’Qali National Stadium and was asked about his new golden son and the challenges that await him.
“As I said to the City players, we’re all in a bit of the unknown,” Southgate responded. “We’ve had teams in the Champions League final, but we haven’t had a team win a treble, so for that group of players and staff, things will never be the same again.”
12 months ago, Jack Grealish and his Manchester City teammates were celebrating having achieved a historic treble.
The 28-year-old was one of seven players to miss out on Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad.
The England manager insisted the club’s recent form was a key factor in his decision-making.
“You never get that group back together and everything changes in their lives. But anything he tells them about the future would be done privately. “I don’t think discussing that publicly is of any use.”
It all seemed pretty insignificant at the time. A conversation about buts and maybes. But here we are in June 2024 and, as Southgate prepares to take a squad of 26 to the European Championship in Germany, Grealish won’t be in it.
If not a fall from grace, it is certainly a huge fall for a player who has always looked at home in England colours.
For what it’s worth, I think Southgate has made a mistake. Grealish has always been a positive influence on any England team he has played for and Southgate admitted as much on Thursday. “I think the world of the child,” he said.
Grealish is also extremely talented and would have provided a dynamic option off the bench. Unlike Cole Palmer, Jarrod Bowen, Anthony Gordon and Eberechi Eze, he has tournament experience which can be invaluable when the pressure mounts.
However, Southgate has chosen form and numbers and from that point of view the odds were against Grealish since he finished his domestic season with a total of 10 minutes of football in the last month.
The noises coming out of City about Pep Guardiola’s diminishing faith in the player the club bought from Aston Villa for £100 million in the summer of 2021 had been increasingly audible for some time.
In the wake of City’s defeat to Manchester United in the FA Cup final two weeks ago, Guardiola denied there was any problem and suggested Grealish would “return to his top level” very soon. However, what he spoke loudest about was that, while City were trying to claw back a 2-0 deficit against their great rivals at Wembley, Grealish had been left on the bench.
The winger was an unused substitute in City’s 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Man United last month.
There have been rumors that City manager Pep Guardiola is not as fond of Grealish as he once was. A point that the Spanish has denied
Southgate is a firm believer in instinct. He tends to trust his own eyes and his own interpretation of the way the shape can fluctuate. However, he does receive advice from the club’s directors, and Guardiola will have been honest with him about the problems that one of his most senior players has suffered over the last nine months.
Grealish will be devastated by his omission, especially after an impressive substitute cameo against Bosnia in Newcastle on Monday night. He also lacks self-awareness.
When I sat down with him for 45 minutes, about a month after the success of Treble last year, he was wearing a Gucci tracksuit worth more than £10,000, but his insight into his life and career couldn’t have been truer or more sincere
Speaking about the differences between him and his clubmate Erling Haaland, he joked that the Norwegian striker liked to take an ice bath after the game, while he preferred a beer.
Refueling, a word once used by the late Sir Bobby Robson to refer to Paul Gascoigne, has always been a challenge for Grealish. He told me that he sometimes wished he could lead a different life, where anonymity gave him a license to roam more freely.
He told me he had worn a wig on a night out in Manchester to ensure his anonymity. To this day, I’m not sure if she was joking.
Grealish hardly drank during the second half of last season but admitted to struggling with the mental demands of a campaign that took place after last year’s triumph.
What do you give to the footballer who has everything? The chance to do it again, frankly. For Grealish that proved too much, even if it was not a topic Southgate wanted to delve into on Thursday.
Grealish has admitted to struggling with the mental demands of a campaign following last year’s triumph.
The sincere and fun image of the 28-year-old player contrasts with the work he does on and off the field.
“I don’t think today is a good day to talk about the big picture,” he said. ‘I do not think it’s fair. I just gave a really difficult conversation to a guy who is devastated. I’m not going to go any further than that.’
What about Guardiola? Has he also played a role in this? Undoubtedly. Grealish has become a different player in his three years with the Catalan. The Villa Park runner has transformed at City into a player for whom team play and structure are essential. He has worked for the team but has he worked for the player?
One of Grealish’s most frequently heard instructions from Guardiola is to win free kicks. He couldn’t be more pragmatic, less romantic, less ‘greal’ if he came soaped up in the city blue of Birmingham.
However, we should not give up on Grealish. He’s a tough guy. The carefree image does not reflect reality. He cares deeply about his football and greatly values playing for his country. It won’t be long before we see photos of him on vacation on a Balearic island or in Las Vegas or somewhere similar. He won’t spend the summer crying over his exclusion. Here in the England countryside, however, he will be missed.
“It can light up a room,” Declan Rice said. ‘This week has been very funny and has had everyone in suspense. When he came over the other night I thought he was excellent, I knocked my socks off and his mentality was top notch. I can’t speak highly enough of him.
“I don’t know what his life is like, but he’s a great guy and I’m gutted for him because he’s one of my best friends. He’s a very positive, down-to-earth person, and he’s very positive about this group.”
Grealish may not be part of England’s campaign this summer, but he could still return in better form next season.
Rice also mentioned the benefits of a summer without football for Grealish and it was a good point. That can benefit Grealish and City, and perhaps England too.
It seems wrong to imagine a 26-man England team without its Jack the Lad.
In the end, the work of a season of three goals and three assists in a winning Premier League team has served him well.
However, it will be a surprise if he doesn’t return next season.
