Up your game? Jack Grealish shows against Barcelona what he can do.
One of the more bizarre sights on German TV during the Euros was Jack Grealish popping up, in fact popping up over the fence, flogging Hellmann’s. The ad was everywhere in Europe, including England, but the fact that Grealish’s only presence in Germany was selling salad cream felt even more surreal. And sad. “Up your game,” was Grealish’s telling line in the ad. Gareth Southgate’s message too.
“I was absolutely heartbroken,” Grealish says now of his omission by Southgate from England’s Euro 2024 squad. “I have to just try and use that as motivation going into this season.”
Motivation? Grealish shouldn’t really need any additional motivation going into a season when he already has to convince Pep Guardiola to start him ahead of Jeremy Doku on Manchester City’s left, when Guardiola has used Phil Foden there and when Savinho, the 20-year-old Brazilian winger, has just arrived from Troyes after a successful loan at Girona (owned 47% by City Football Group). Grealish has a fight on his hands for starting time.
Grealish was speaking to reporters in Orlando before City’s friendly with Barcelona last night. He then let his football do the talking, and doing it eloquently. TV highlighted his lively performance: going close early on with a shot, a free-kick, another shot, before profiting from a driving run by Mateo Kovacic that carved through Barcelona. Kovacic slipped the ball left to Grealish, who scored from a tight angle with his left foot to make it 2-2. He came off with six minutes remaining. City then slumped to a 4-1 shootout defeat.