Jack Grealish should be worried at Man City if transfer rumour about ‘incredible’ player is true
A strong case could be that the 2024/2025 campaign is the most important season in Jack Grealish’s career at Manchester City.
During his debut season, Grealish’s struggles could be put down to the difficulty of leaving his boyhood club Aston Villa to sign for City.
In the following campaign, the £100 million man took a major step towards justifying being Manchester City’s record-transfer by emerging as one of their standout players as they went on to win the treble.
A suggestion could be made that with the Englishman being on the periphery of the Sky Blues’ previous season, he may have blown his chance to be regarded as one of Pep Guardiola’s go-to men.
However, Grealish and Guardiola discussed the need for him to bounce back next season before the FA Cup final against Manchester United after his forgettable campaign was considered a “write-off” by the player due to his persisting injury woes, off-field issues and a stop-start season as a whole for him.
After City’s pre-season tour as well, Pep Guardiola praised Grealish for having “two incredible games” out of the four he started in during his time out in the United States.
Guardiola also lauded Grealish for returning to pre-season with an “unbelievable attitude.”
The Catalan tactician still seems to have faith in the 28-year-old.
Until that remains the case, Grealish can breathe a sigh of relief about where his career lies at the Etihad Stadium.
Especially after impressing the Manchester City boss with his performances and attitude in pre-season.
If Man City make Pedro Neto move, tough times could emerge for Grealish
However, things could take a turn for the worse for the two-time Premier League is a certain transfer rumour surrounding Manchester City is proven to be true.
When reporting about potential replacements for Julian Alvarez if he joins Atletico Madrid, The Telegraph also mentioned that City are interested in Pedro Neto.
If the Sky Blues do proceed to make a move for Neto — described as “incredible” by Gary O’Neill via BBC Sport — Grealish’s place in his side’s pecking order of wide players could descend further down.
Last season, Pep Guardiola largely fielded a wing duo consisting of either two of Bernardo Silva, Jeremy Doku or Phil Foden.
This summer, new signing Savinho has entered the fray and in Neto, City could be looking to add another natural winger to their ranks.
If not for an injury-hit season, the Wolves wideman would likely have produced even better numbers than his tally of two goals and nine assists in 18 Premier League starts.
Neto has all the ingredients to develop into a world-class winger if he signed for a top club; an eye for a pass, the ability to beat players, speed and a seemingly natural instinct of perfectly timing his runs in behind defences.
Grealish, on the other hand struggles to bypass defenders as a touchline winger, tends to demand the ball to feet and lacks the pace the Viana do Castelo-born speedster does.
As per FbRef, over the past 365 days, the Portuguese international has completed 2.2 successful take-ons, 0.53 assists, 5.84 progressive carries and 4.45 shot-creating actions per 90.
Grealish, on the other, produces 1.4 successful take-ons, 0.18 assists, 7.6 progressive carries and 5.2 shot-creating actions per 90, as per FbRef.
Neto shades the England international in certain metrics and in others where the latter comes out on top, it is important to remember that he is also playing in a much superior side.
With the former Braga wideman’s ability to play on both flanks, much like Savinho, he could very well emerge as one of Pep Guardiola’s trusted options in Grealish’s favoured left-wing position if the transfer was finalised.
Considering Neto is four years younger than the Manchester City winger as well, theoretically, the upside in his game is far more significant in comparison to the treble-winner.
As a result, if City decide to add the former to their ranks, Grealish should be concerned about his place at the club.
