Pep Guardiola has decided to leave Jack Grealish out of Manchester City’s squad for this month’s Club World Cup as he nears a summer exit.
Man City get their Club World Cup campaign underway next Wednesday, facing Moroccan side Wydad Casablanca in their opening group game.
City also face Al-Ain and Juventus in Group G and are one of the favourites to go far in the competition as they look to finish a disappointing 2024/25 campaign on a high, finishing third in the Premier League and losing in the FA Cup final.
Man City’s squad and the rest of the players at the Club World Cup would presumably prefer to have a break rather than compete at the tournament, but there is an incentive to do well with huge prize money at stake.
On Wednesday evening, Man City confirmed their squad for the tournament and Guardiola has decided to omit Grealish.
This latest snub nudges Grealish closer to the exit door after he was only a bit-part player for Man City during the 2024/25 campaign due to injuries and poor form.
Grealish has been linked with several Premier League and European sides in recent months, with Everton mooted as a possible destination.
Everton are said to be plotting an ambitious move for Grealish ahead of their move to a new stadium and a report from Football Insider claims they could secure his services, with the experienced winger ‘telling friends’ he is ‘excited’ about the prospect of a move to the Toffees.
There are reportedly two reasons for this stance. The report adds:
‘Jack Grealish favours a move to Everton over Newcastle United and the foreign clubs chasing him, sources have told Football Insider.
‘The glamour of the club’s new stadium and the possibility of a regular starting role is attractive to the former Aston Villa star, who does not just want to be a squad player at a Champions League club.’
Former Man City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips has explained why he thinks Grealish to join a team “who no one’s scared of”.
“The bricks haven’t fallen down on his career,” Wright-Phillips said.
“For me, it’s just a bit of confidence needed, and maybe you might say a bit of freedom, but then if he goes to Villa, does he get that freedom? Because people set a low block against Villa as well. Villa are one of those teams who if you don’t, they will dismantle you. So most teams are scared of Villa as well.
“You can kind of feel like right now, just so he gets that enjoyment back in football, he needs to be at a team who no-one’s scared of.
“Then there will be more spaces around the pitch for him to float into, for him to dribble on. There’ll be more one-on-one situations for him so he can go inside or outside.
“When he’s at City, they’re only leaving room to go down the wing or just pass it back. But he gets a lot of stick because he isn’t trying to go past two people all the time. I just think that’s insane.
“Like, not even half of the best players in the world go past two people all the time, but Jack’s the one that seems to get a lot of stick, which I think is quite unfair.”