Jack Grealish is looking to enjoy a big season for Manchester City after a frustrating period in his career.
The winger had injury problems last season, preventing him from building on the levels he showed during Manchester City‘s Treble-winning campaign.
Grealish was then overlooked by Gareth Southgate for England’s Euro 2024 squad, and the player has been vocal regarding his disappointment about that.
He returned to pre-season early in a bid to set the tone for the new season.
He then picked up a knock ahead of the Community Shield, meaning he could not face Manchester United. Pep Guardiola then picked Jeremy Doku and Savinho against Chelsea and Ipswich Town.
But yesterday in the win over West Ham United, Grealish was handed his first start of the season – and the star has sent a message to fans on Instagram.
Jack Grealish sends 21-word message after making first start of 2024/25 against West Ham
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With Savinho picking up an injury leading up to yesterday’s game, the door swung open for Grealish against West Ham.
Although West Ham had their moments, it was a relatively comfortable win for City with Erling Haaland in ruthless form once again, scoring a hat-trick.
It was a decent outing for Grealish, who was given a 7/10 for his display by the Manchester Evening News, which said: “Complemented Doku well and worked intelligently with De Bruyne down the left, creating goalscoring opportunities that could have been taken.”
He created three chances in the game and was perhaps a little unlucky not to register an assist.
But Grealish won’t mind too much. It was all about being back out there and giving a positive performance – and that is exactly what he did and he now has a good chance of starting the next game against Brentford after the international break.
After yesterday’s game, Grealish took to Instagram to mark his first start of the new season. He told fans: “Felt so good to be back playing out there with my brothers! Great win at a tough place to go!! Citehhhhh!! 🩵”
Grealish must build on positive West Ham display
It was good to see Grealish back out there yesterday for City and performing well.
It has been a difficult 2024 for him and the player has had several setbacks, but you do get the sense with him that he is ready to enjoy a really productive season.
The England snub had to have hurt. But he has said himself that he will use that as motivation, which is good news for City.
He’s made Lee Carsley’s first England squad and hopefully, he will have some decent involvement over the international break. The Three Lions interim boss has admitted he is ‘really excited’ to work with him which is encouraging.
One gets the sense it would be good for him to keep his momentum going ahead of returning to City for the game with Brentford.
