Jack Grealish has impressed since his £100million move to Manchester City and is beginning to establish himself as a regular in the England setup too
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There’s a simple reason why Manchester City have spent £100million on Jack Grealish – his class on the ball.
I’ve known since he embarrassed Liverpool in the 2015 FA Cup semi-final that he has an astonishing ability to unlock defences, a rare quality which commands a massive premium.
But in the best possible way I think Pep Guardiola will coach some of that out of him – purely because he’ll want Jack to move the ball quicker than he did at Aston Villa.
I reckon that will excite Gareth Southgate too, because it could add an extra dimension to England.
If City have had a weakness – and we certainly saw it in the Champions League Final – it is sometimes being too pedestrian in the build-up.
Jack has that ability to draw two or three players in, and his instinct then is to try to beat them.
That is one of the things Guardiola will have identified in recruiting him… but he’ll want something subtly different.
Don’t get me wrong, that ability to ghost past players in tight spaces will still be hugely important when sides are packing 10 behind the ball. But sometimes, in doing that, Jack slows the game down.
Undoubtedly, Pep will be drilling into him the idea that when he draws two or three players in, then two of them are out of position… and a quick ball can exploit that space. There is too much class surrounding Jack at City for him to get the ball and keep it all afternoon. If he tries that, he’ll be put straight in no uncertain terms.
We got a glimpse of his growing awareness against Hungary, when his quick ball released Mason Mount to set up the opening goal.
I think England have sometimes slowed the game down too much under Gareth. I’m not criticising him – who could after the results he’s got? There’s no right or wrong way, just results.
And it’s true, international football is far more like the Italian game, or the French league, than the 100mph of the Premier League. But Gareth is facing a new phenomenon now. Respect for England’s ability.
Teams are wary of them now, even top international teams will be cautious, will pack players behind the ball, and try to strangle what is undoubtedly a top-class forward line, with real depth behind it.
This is where Pep’s coaching will come in, and perhaps Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s at Manchester United for Jadon Sancho and Mason Greenwood. Perhaps Marcus Rashford too.
City are so used to playing against sides that look to get the entire team behind the ball to try and contain them. And that means they have had to devise better ideas on how to unlock that type of shape.
If you have to break teams down all the time then you learn what works and what doesn’t.
A club season of that for England’s Grealish, Sancho, Greenwood and Rashford will give their talent an extra dimension. No bad thing with a World Cup on the horizon.