The boss of Manchester City Pep Guardiola suggested Tuesday that the fallen Jack Grealish had to be rediscovered to rediscover his love for football after he had been omitted from the team for the club World Cup in the United States.
“Jack is an exceptional player. The only reason he did not play last season was of course my decisions,” Guardiola told reporters in Philadelphia, where City Wydad Casablanca will play in their opening match on Wednesday, without the international winger of England.
“We decided that it was the best he is staying and has a place where he can come back to what he was in the year of the Treble or all his career at Aston Villa.”
Grealisk came to City in 2021 and was a striking on their run to Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup Glory in 2023. However, he only started 10 Premier League matches in the following season and only 16 times in all competitions in this campaign.
“Without him it would have been harder to achieve what we were doing in the triple season, but the fact is that he did not play for many minutes in the last two seasons,” Guardiola added.
“He has to play again and have the butterflies in his stomach that he has to play every three days.”
However, the former Barcelona coach seemed to suggest that the future of the player was not necessarily away from the Etihad Stadium.
“No, no. I don't know, but for now we decided not to come here (for him),” he said.
City, who finished third in the Premier League, added four new signing sessions in the recent transfer window to freshen up their team for the Club World Cup.
They brought in the Dutch midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, exciting French maker Rayan Cherki, left back Rayan Ait-Nouri and backup goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli.
“We are very satisfied because they all have enormous quality,” Guardiola said.
“With this incredible amount of matches we have until the end of the season, 11 months, every three or four days, everyone will play.”
Time to run the page
The last season was one of the hardest of Guardiola coaching career, and he sees the Club World Cup as the first tournament of the new campaign, and therefore a chance to play the page.
“It's the beginning of the season. In sports what happened in the past is good or bad, forgotten, so we feel we are starting the season,” he said.
The city is expected to be finished until the last 16 of group G, in which they will also meet Ain from the United Arab Emirates and Italian giants Juventus.
First on Lincoln Financial Field, Wydad of Morocco, a leading name in North African football, who qualified for the Club World Cup as a recent winner of the CAF Champions League.
“Football has grown up a lot around the world. All these teams have individual quality,” said Guardiola, refused to take the opponents of Wednesday light.
“We have enormous respect. We saw what we could see from them. We have a game plan, we are here to make a good tournament and we will start tomorrow.”