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Jack Grealish reveals how Pep Guardiola made him feel loved at Man City.
Jack Grealish discussed how last season, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola made him feel appreciated at the club.
After joining Manchester City for £100 million in the summer of 2021, Grealish had a challenging transition. Only after returning from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar did Pep Guardiola begin to routinely use Grealish in games, and he finally went on to play a significant part in the club’s treble victory.
The England international has now stated that Guardiola consistently starting him in crucial games last season helped him feel “loved” at the club, which greatly enhanced his confidence.
Speaking on Manchester City’s podcast, Grealish said, “I’m a big confidence player, I want to feel loved. I came back from the World Cup and my first game was against Leeds and I should have scored at least two goals in the first half and at half-time, I was dwelling on that. But in the second half, I made two assists for Erling. A week later, I was on the bench at Chelsea, as me and Riyad [Mahrez] came on at the same time and I got another assist for his goal. After that, I just seemed to get some more goal involvement.
“I felt I was playing well in myself, too, and the manager was picking me in the big games like for Arsenal in the FA Cup and Arsenal in the Premier League, Tottenham and so on. I was feeling the love of Pep – not because he’d said so, but because he was playing me in all those big games. ‘It’s okay the manager going; ‘You’re so important to the team, Jack’ – then not picking you. Then you’d think; ‘Yeah, you’re just saying that’. Pep didn’t say anything at all, but he picked me for the big games, and that said everything.”
The 28-year-old winger played 50 games for the Cityzens last season in all competitions, contributing 11 assists and five goals. Grealish is presently out due to a thigh injury.
When City plays Nottingham Forest on Saturday, they will want to make it six games in a row that they have won in the Premier League.