Should City give Jack Grealish another chance?

Jack Grealish is back at City and as most of us (or just me) thought the club might be giving him another chance to prove himself and get back into the squad, its just a stall as they wait for clubs to make offers. I thought he was definitely going back to Everton but reports say that they're not willing to pay his wages. He's on the final year of his contract earning 300K per week and City don't want him to leave as a free transfer after spending 100M to get him 5 years ago. I personally wouldn't mind him leaving on a free but obviously the club wants to get whatever money they cna get from him before that contract ends. So with that, I don't think we'll be seeing Jack Grealish playing for City again. Sure he might get some minutes here and there as they wait for an offer but he's definitely part of the club's rebuild and long term plans.

Seeing him play for us in the Community shield against Arsenal gave me a fresh batch of nostalgia. The way he slowly squares up against his defender and quickly chops away from them and draws a foul took me back to the treble season when he was so crucial and important to the system Pep built. To some extent you could say that without Grealish, we would have not won the treble. He had 5 goals and 11 Assists playing as a winger who was tasked with providing width and recyling possession. The way he had wonderful chemistry with Debruyne, Bernardo and Haaland was just a joy to watch. Later on in the 23/24 season, Pep saw the Prem was evolving and that he needed quick and direct wingers to beat their man and put in crosses in the box. Something Grealish can do but when the game is open and there's plenty of space to run into. Against a low block, he wasn't effective at all. He would have been effective if we played him centrally but Debruyne and Foden were ahead of him in those positions. This shift in our style of play made Grealish redundant and was slowly phased out of the team. There was an opportunity for him to play in the 10 position when most of our players dipped in form in the 24/25 season but it only happened once, maybe twice before he suffered a major injury that ruled him out for majority of the season.

Now, I don't think we URGENTLY need a player like Grealish in the squad with the likes of Doku and Semenyo who have cemented their spots in the winger positions, but we need depth if we're aiming to play 60+ games this season and with the news of Savinho wanting to leave, Cherki and Foden being prioritised as 10s instead of wingers, no one else is there to cover incase Doku or Semenyo gets injured, especially Doku who normally gets injured every season for being played too much. Unless the club is already lining up good and strong backups for Doku and Semenyo, we really don't have any other winger options and we can't start putting pressure on 17 year old Jeremy Monga and 18 year old Mcaidoo. If anything, we shouldn't even be thinking about selling Savinho because we won't have senior player who's a pure winger to replace Semenyo.

For me Jack should definitely be given another chance, he's one of the three players left in our Trebel winning team. Is there a world where he could have a go playing in the role Tijani played? He'd be able to take the ball from deep areas and carry it to central areas and either win fouls or create chances for the forwards which is his biggest strength. With the way Maresca sets up his box midfield, he would absolutely flourish as the high advanced 8/10 where he can use his dribbling and tactical intelligence to create chances and combine well with the Striker while still being able to hold the ball and recycle possesion. If utilized well, he'll be a gamechanger and a brilliant squad player for us this coming season.

He would definitely contribute in every way possible, whether its on and off the pitch. He's one of the experienced lads, a nice guy and knows the club well, a proper City player. When he eventually leaves and wherever he goes, I wish him the best and hope he returns to being the best version of himself.