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Rob DawsonReporter
Pep Guardiola said Jack Grealish that was the beginning for him City of Manchester career was “better could he believe.”
Grealish has admitted that he found life at the Etihad Stadium “difficult” after leaving Aston Villa to become English football’s first £100m player of the summer.
He returned to Villa Park for the first time with City on Wednesday and before the game, Guardiola assured the 26-year-old he was satisfied with his form since his arrival.
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“My opinion is that he played much better than maybe he believed,” Guardiola said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“Maybe at Villa it all started with him and he’s free, you know, now he’s in a new position and maybe undefined or too clinical in the final third.
“Maybe because he respects his teammates, maybe because it’s a new environment, and that’s normal, it’s a process. He needs time. All the players that come here, in the first season, always struggled.
“But what he sees and what he has to do, it’s easy for him with the quality that he has. Just to be free here and be who he is, that’s all, nothing more. I don’t tell the players what they have to do – they play.
“When they get the ball close to the box, my friend, you decide whatever you want. That’s why you’re Jack Grealish and not another player. They have to play and create moments. his engraving.”
Grealish hopes to be fit enough to face his former club after missing the last three games through injury.
He has been a steady starter for Man City so far this season but was left on the bench in a 2-0 win in Manchester United before the international break when Guardiola chose a three out of three Gabriel Jesus, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden.
“Sometimes it’s the environment, a new home, a private life, but not just Jack – all the players,” the City boss added.
“Sometimes you have your whole life living in one place and then you go somewhere else and the expectations are huge, in terms of what you’re supposed to do. But play badly? Not at all. I haven’t watched a single game there. where. he didn’t play with the quality he had.”
Just like Grealish, City is also sweating for Foden’s fitness and Kevin De Bruyne, who has tested negative for COVID-19 but has yet to return to full training.
Ferran Torres still sidelined due to injury while Aymeric Laporte suspended after receiving his fifth yellow card of the season in a 2-1 win over West Ham on Sunday.
“We are having an emergency in the squad,” said Guardiola.
“We have few, few, few. We never complain when we can’t play players because of injuries or red cards, I trust a lot in the squad and the other players will come on. but we really struggled in December – the hardest month of the year – because we had very few players.
“We only have 14, 15 players. We are in a difficult situation because a lot of players play many minutes.”
