Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has coached a significant number of top-level players throughout his managerial career.
Before being appointed at the Etihad Stadium back in 2016, the Spaniard coached the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta at Barcelona and then Arjen Robben, Robert Lewandowski and Franck Ribery at Bayern Munich.
Having spent longer at City than any of those two previous teams, Guardiola has trained with many players at the Manchester club.
With the 53-year-old approaching his ninth season in charge of the Blues, a pundit has claimed that one player in Guardiola’s squad does not actually help City on the pitch.
Stewart Robson baffled by Jack Grealish being a Man City player
While assessing City’s upcoming season in a recent video shared on the ESPN UK YouTube channel, Stewart Robson had this to say about Jack Grealish and his role in the team.
He said: “I very rarely see him play a forward pass and it’s no surprise that he’s not in the team. I don’t even understand how he gets in the side because he doesn’t affect games.
“If you’re a central-midfield player you can slow things down and try and dictate the pace of a game.
“When you’re playing on the left wing, you’re expected to create goals, you’re expected to go past people, you’re expected to play little one-twos and whenever he’s played I would say 90% of his passes go back to the full-back which is not affecting the game.
“He has to get back to the player he was at Aston Villa when he was going past people, winning free kicks on the edge of the box, he was more dynamic he was running half the length of the field with the ball when there was space in front of him.
“I don’t know what’s changed whether Pep Guardiola has changed him or whether he’s changed himself and lost his confidence or lost his speed but I just don’t see how he gets in Manchester City’s team at all.”
Grealish has already proven his importance to City and Guardiola
Since arriving at City from Aston Villa in 2021 for £100m, Grealish has made 125 appearances for the Manchester club across all competitions, scoring 14 goals, delivering 18 assists and winning several trophies along the way.
Looking back over City’s Treble-winning season, the Englishman proved his importance to his side by starting 41 of the 50 games he appeared in, including the FA Cup and Champions League finals.
Despite Robson’s confusion at what Grealish does for City, Wayne Rooney explained back in May that the winger being in possession is able to draw players to him and create space for his teammates.
