Between New Year’s Day and March 30, he would play just 16 Premier League minutes as he battled a groin injury, and at a club like Manchester City, once your place becomes available, you’re battling against one of the top players in the world to get it back.
Yet that star in a sky blue shirt has struggled to shine quite so bright ever since, before a 2024 that will go on to shape his career, one way or another.
The City squad at times is like a rainforest; where one sky-scraping monolith falls, there are countless others eagerly awaiting their chance at a spot in the canopy, and so begins a race for the limelight.
While he has failed to bring the same electric jolt of energy to games on a regular basis, Grealish can take solace in the fact that his performances are not actually that different to 2022-23, from a statistical standpoint.
‘I’ll be honest, football-wise it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to deal with in terms of my own career.
Perhaps the best way back into the fold is to go back to what earned him that £100m price tag – playing with the freedom and joyous abandon that put so many smiles on so many faces.
There are more than enough ups and downs in that 12-month period to impact anyone’s game, and yet that’s just a year in the life of Jack Grealish, once the darling of English football.
‘I know that he can do it because I saw him. I saw his level and I want that, every single training session and every single game.’
Jack Grealish has struggled to break into the Manchester City side with Pep Guardiola claiming Savinho is in better shape than him
He was still a feature on his return to the squad after leaving to be with his partner and their daughter, but only two of the next seven league games saw him play more than 16 minutes as his team-mates seized their own opportunities.
Grealish will be hoping to show Thomas Tuchel what he is capable of to force his way back into the England side
Left on the bench for an opening 2-0 win over Chelsea, Grealish then played in the next seven games as City made a strong start to the new 2024-25 campaign; not since his glittering 2022-23 campaign had he feature so many times on the bounce in the Premier League.
To suggest that the player’s City career is approaching its end would be reactionary and reductive in the utmost, especially given Guardiola’s comments of belief.
He only managed five goals and seven assists all season, but for players like Grealish, who could turn a game on its head and who played with such an evident joy, it is never really about the numbers, but influence and impact, and other such intangibles.
He then joined City in the summer of 2021 for a British record fee of £100million from his boyhood club
‘I would love to be like Gazza,’ he said back in 2020. ‘He played with such joy and that is what I want to do.
The forward struggled for consistency at the start of 2024 and failed to get on the scoresheet
The Man City star and his childhood sweetheart welcomed their baby daughter in September
City brought in Savinho over the summer to add further competition in wide attacking positions
Grealish and Sasha Attwood welcomed their first child into the world back in September 2024
As such, when the time comes for Gareth Southgate to name his England squad for the Euros, it is Grealish who falls by the wayside, and really it’s hard to argue against it.
He played almost 3500 minutes of football across 50 games that season, and was at his creative best as one of City’s key stars, playing 90 minutes in all but one of his side’s Champions League knockout games en route to the crown.
After sealing a Champions League-winning Treble in 2022-23 Grealish has struggled to replicate his best form
Having featured in 2021 as England made it to the final, including a spell-binding impact off the bench in the 2-0 defeat of Germany, Grealish admitted that it was the biggest setback he’d ever faced in football.
Compared to what is regarded to his best season at City, he is actually only three per cent worse off for dribbling success and 0.1 for assists per 90 minutes in the Premier League.
‘One of the biggest compliments for people to say to you is that you make them happy watching football.’
Saka had become England’s finest winger, Palmer had stunned the Premier League with his emergence at Chelsea, Bowen scored 20 times for West Ham, Gordon’s electric pace and energy was unmatched, while Foden was named PFA Player’s Player of the Year and FWA Player of the Year. As competition goes, it doesn’t get a lot tougher.
His most recent outing, against West Ham at the weekend, saw him play just six minutes, before
True professional that he is, Grealish underwent grueling pre-season training following his England snub in a bid to come back stronger, posting pictures of himself going through the paces while on holiday.
‘I don’t have any doubt about the quality of Jack or any of these players. They would not be here otherwise,’ Guardiola said after the 4-1 win over West Ham.