Jack Grealish has put his omission from England’s Euro 2024 squad behind him and shone for Manchester City in pre-season – but an injury picked up in training saw him miss the Community Shield and he may miss the start of the new campaign
Pep Guardiola admits losing Jack Grealish is “a blow” as the £100million star battles to be fit for Sunday’s Premier League opener at Chelsea.
Grealish missed the Community Shield win over Manchester United after picking up an injury in training on Friday.
The England winger impressed in City’s US pre-season tour after being dropped for Euro 2024 and Guardiola is desperate to have him available.
“It’s a blow because he played all pre-season, had the rhythm and was aggressive,” said the City boss. “The third or fourth game was really, really good. Jeremy Doku was on holidays and joined us for two or three days, Savinho as well.
“It is what it is. During the season it happens many times – discomforts, injuries.
“We didn’t want to take a risk and maybe against Chelsea he will be ready or pretty sure against Ipswich Town, he will be ready. Otherwise, if he’s injured now it could be three weeks or a month out.”
Guardiola has Doku and Savinho, who came on for his debut against United, out wide and he is excited about the new £30.8million Brazilian.
“It was a good transfer deal for the club, I’m really pleased,” he said. “Savinho will get it. He will understand it perfectly. He made many, many actions for Girona last season, going to the byline, crossing to the near post or the far post, and the strikers scored a lot of goals.
“He’s so fast in transition and I know he can play every three or four days.
“This is one of the details we look at, how reliable the player can be otherwise he cannot play in big, big teams because the demand is like that.”
