Jack grealish's 'final straw' message, pep guardiola apology, dressing down

MANCHESTER CITY PAID £100MILLION TO SIGN JACK GREALISH FROM ASTON VILLA IN 2021, BUT THE ATTACKING MIDFIELDER HAS FAILED TO MAKE MUCH OF A MARK DURING HIS TENURE AT THE ETIHAD UNDER PEP

GUARDIOLA 10:06, 21 May 2025 Jack Grealish has seen his future at Manchester City thrown into question after being snubbed by Pep Guardiola during the FA Cup final. Manchester City lost at

Wembley in the final for the second-consecutive year on Saturday, with Crystal Palace securing their first-ever major trophy with a 1-0 win over the Cityzens – Eberechi Eze making the

difference for the Eagles with 16 minutes played. And as Grealish was overlooked by Guardiola, with Claudio Echeverri and Ilkay Gundogan getting the nod ahead of him as substitutes,

questions have arisen as to whether the winger will still be a City player by the time the 2025/26 campaign rolls around in August. Despite arriving as a top prospect in a £100million deal

with Aston Villa in 2021, Grealish has failed to make much of a mark under Guardiola. The 29-year-old has started just seven times in total this season, while the likes of January recruit

Omar Marmoush, Jeremy Doku and Savinho have been favoured instead. Meanwhile, Guardiola has also demanded a smaller squad for 2025/26, telling the board that he will walk if his wishes are

not adhered to due to a feeling of resentment to seeing star players frozen out due to too much variety to pick and choose from. The Spanish tactician said: "I said to the club I

don't want that [a bigger squad]. "I don't want to leave five or six players in the freezer. I don't want that. I will quit. Make a shorter squad, I will stay. It's

impossible for my soul to [tell] my players in the tribune that they cannot play. "Now it happened to add players immediately. Maybe for three or four months we couldn't select 11

players, we didn't have defenders, it was so difficult. After, people come back but next season it cannot be like that. "As a manager, I cannot train 24 players and every time I

select I have to have four, five, six, stay in Manchester at home because they cannot play. This is not going to happen. I said to the club I don't want that." With Grealish's

seeing his future in the north west thrown into question, the MEN breaks down his relationship with Guardiola and what some of football's key pundits have said on his situation... NO

DECISIONS MADE AS OF YET AND AN APOLOGY Guardiola has told the press that a decision on Grealish will be made at the end of the season amid speculation that he could move on this summer

despite having two years left on his contract. The 54-year-old said of matters: "We didn’t talk, I didn’t talk with him. "People don’t believe me, but these things belong to the

agents and the club and Txiki [Begiristain], and in this case Hugo [Viana] as well. Both will decide. "What is going to happen will happen, but he has to come back to start to play

minutes again." However, Guardiola did admit that he understands that Grealish will be unhappy with the amount of game time that he has received as of late. He added: "It’s not

[only] Jack. There is not one player in my locker room, and I think all the locker rooms around the world, that is happy [when they] do not play. "When the team is winning and winning

they have to figure out how everything happens – but they are not happy. They are here to play and, when they don’t play, they are not satisfied. That is the normal position in all the

clubs." Meanwhile, Guardiola has also apologised directly to Grealish for his lack of playing time in particular. When asked separately with regards to how tough it was to leave the

winger out of the squad, he replied: "I feel so sorry for all of the players who don't play." A PUBLIC DRESSING DOWN In March 2024, following a goalless draw between City and

Arsenal at the Etihad, Guardiola was spotted sharing some choice words for his players on the pitch – including Grealish who was brought on as a second-half substitute, but failed to make

much of an impact. Guardiola was incredibly animated as he spoke with a dejected Grealish, throwing his hands in the air with a stern look on his face as the winger listened with a look of

frustration on his face. When asked about the incident, Guardiola replied with a wealth of sarcasm: "I do it for the cameras, for my ego. "I’m the famous person of the team, if

it’s on camera then I can sleep because I have incredible satisfaction. I always try to criticise the players there and let them know how bad they are. "When Erling (Haaland) scores

three goals, the compliments have to be with me, not with them, that’s why I use the cameras to do it. My advice next time is; don’t film us and it will not be a problem." A BROKEN

PROMISE Upon arriving at Manchester City, Grealish was surprised with the No. 10 shirt – with The Athletic reporting that Guardiola hoped to utilise the star as a box-to-box/attacking

midfielder in alternation to Gundogan. However, this has not been the case whatsoever. Grealish has played predominantly as a left winger for the club, competing with the likes of Jeremy

Doku and Phil Foden for game time, while the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva have been hard to budge in the centre of the park. And when Grealish has had the opportunity to play

through the middle, it has been towards the back end of games when City have been chasing a last minute goal with a re-jig of formation, hardly giving him enough time to settle into the role

and make a difference. TIME TO GO FOR DISLIKED GREALISH, SAYS ALAN SHEARER After being left out of the FA Cup final, Alan Shearer was quick to opine that Grealish must leave City this

summer for the sake of his footballing career, while also suggesting that Guardiola "doesn't like" the player. Speaking on The Rest is Football, Shearer made clear he felt it

was the final straw for Grealish and said: "Did it surprise me yesterday [that City lost]? "No, because that's what they've been like all season. They didn't deserve

to win it, they didn't do enough to win it. You mentioned Jack Grealish. His time is up at Man City, he has to leave. "For him [Guardiola] to bring a debutant on, a young boy

[Claudio Echeverri] and Gundogan on when they're desperate for a goal rather than Jack Grealish... his time is up, he's done at Man City, he has to leave. For whatever reason,

Pep's done with him, he doesn't like him, his time is up it really is." Article continues below However, Micah Richards argued that Grealish hasn't played to his full

potential when given the opportunity at City, adding: "You know what is sad though, the fact that players make a move and sometimes it doesn't work out for any reason. "But I

feel as though Jack's played within himself. If he'd gone there and been losing the ball because he'd tried to take people on, making the wrong pass or whatever... but I

don't feel like we've seen the real Jack Grealish." Gary Lineker also confirmed his belief that Grealish had played it too safely at City