He was crowned Premier League champion. Left out of England's squad for the Euro Cup. He became a father for the first time. He lost his place at Manchester City.
There are more than enough ups and downs in that 12-month period to impact anyone's game, and yet that's just one year in the life of Jack Grealish, once the darling of English football.
Yet now, 18 months after his greatest glory at Manchester City, he appears to be at his lowest ebb at the Etihad. Pep Guardiola has said he knows Grealish can return to his best level, but at the moment Savinho, who arrived in the summer, is taking him out of the team.
“As much as (Grealish) looks at himself, he will see the competition,” Guardiola said on Saturday. 'He has to compete with himself. Savinho is in better shape than Jack and that's why I played with Savinho.
'I want the Jack who won the Treble. But I try to be honest with myself about it. What happened to Savinho's delivery in the box? He is taller than the other wingers in that position.
And they have to fight. You can say, “Okay, that's unfair.” If you think that, then that's fine. But we have to prove it: “I'm going to fight with Savinho to deserve to play in that position.” And every day, every week and every month.
Jack Grealish has struggled to break into the Manchester City squad and Pep Guardiola claims Savinho is in better shape than him.
Grealish was left out of England's Euro squad and instead shared numerous snaps with his Instagram followers enjoying the sun on holiday.
The Manchester City star and his childhood sweetheart welcomed their daughter in September.
Grealish's emergence as a creative maverick at a struggling Aston Villa, and his perceived “party boy” antics as a youngster, drew comparisons with English football royalty such as Paul Gascoigne, and for a long time it looked like he would live up to the challenge. of expectations. .
“I would love to be like Gazza,” he said in 2020. “He played with so much joy and that's what I want to do.”
“One of the greatest compliments people can say to you is that you make them happy by watching football.”
There are not many players in the current generation of the Three Lions with a better record (three Premier Leagues and a Champions League accompanied by another three titles, for good measure), so it could be said that he has already realized that potential .
Two seasons ago, when Man City finally led the football world with a stunning treble, Grealish was at the center of it all, and his connection with goal-eating giant Erling Haaland was crucial to his team's universal dominance.
He played almost 3,500 minutes of football in 50 games that season, and was at his creative best as one of City's key stars, playing 90 minutes in all but one of his team's Champions League knockout games along the way. towards the crown.
He only managed five goals and seven assists all season, but for players like Grealish, who could turn a game around and who played with such obvious joy, it's never really about the numbers, it's about influence and impact. , and other similar things. intangibles.
However, that star in a sky blue shirt has struggled to shine as brightly since then, before 2024 that, in one way or another, will mark his career.
Grealish burst onto the scene with Aston Villa as a creative maverick, drawing comparisons with Paul Gascoigne.
He earned a place in the England setup and was part of the team that lost the Euro 2020 final.
He then joined City in the summer of 2021 for a British record fee of £100m from his boyhood club.
After sealing a Champions League-winning treble in 2022-23, Grealish has struggled to replicate his best form.
At the start of the year, Grealish had not played more than four league games in a row all season, with stability and consistency hard to come by, and there are not many who can thrive in such circumstances in any part of the game.
Between New Year's Day and March 30, he would play just 16 minutes in the Premier League as he battled a groin injury, and at a club like Manchester City, once your place becomes available, you'll be battling one of the best players in the world. to get it back.
City's squad at times is like a rainforest; Where a sky-scraping monolith falls, there are many others eagerly awaiting their chance to take a place in the canopy, and so begins a race for the spotlight.
It was around this time that the likes of Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Jarrod Bowen, Anthony Gordon and his City team-mate Phil Foden were thriving in their own teams, all capable of playing in Grealish's position.
As such, when it comes time for Gareth Southgate to name his England squad for the Euros, it's Grealish who falls by the wayside, and it's hard to really argue against that.
Saka had become England's best winger, Palmer had shocked the Premier League with his emergence for Chelsea, Bowen scored 20 goals for West Ham, Gordon's electric pace and energy were unparalleled, while Foden was named PFA Player of the Year and FWA Player of the Year. Year. As the competition progresses, it doesn't get much more difficult.
Meanwhile, Grealish's minutes were running out, there was not a single goal in 2024 in a City shirt and injuries plagued any form of progress. You start to see where Southgate was coming from.
Having featured in 2021 as England reached the final, including a fascinating impact off the bench in Germany's 2-0 defeat, Grealish admitted it was the biggest setback he has ever faced in football.
The forward struggled to maintain consistency at the start of 2024 and failed to score
As a result, Gareth Southgate dropped him from his squad for the 2024 European Championship.
“When you're on vacation, every time you turn on your phone or TV you just watch it (the tournament), so it was hard not to watch it,” he said in July 2024.
“I'll be honest, football-wise it was the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with in terms of my own career.
'I was absolutely heartbroken. “For me, going forward, I have to try to use it as motivation for this season.”
“I felt like I should have been in the (England) team,” he added. “I feel like I offer something different to the English team players.
'As I said, it was the most difficult moment for me as a footballer. I have had many ups and downs in my career.
As professional as he is, Grealish underwent grueling pre-season training after his England snub in a bid to come back stronger, posting pictures of himself hitting the pace while on holiday.
But there is not much he could have done to get City to sign one of the year's breakout stars in Savinho, who had flourished at Girona, before impressing early on at the Etihad and forcing himself into Guardiola's plans.
Grealish, who was left on the bench during the opening 2-0 win over Chelsea, played in the next seven games as City made a good start to the new 2024-25 campaign; Since his brilliant 2022-23 campaign, he has not appeared so many times in the Premier League.
City signed Savinho over the summer to add more competition in wide attacking positions.
Showing his determination not to rest too much, he was shown training at one of Juventus' premises while in Italy.
But Jack clearly wanted to show that he wasn't going to rest for long, as he included several shots of him taking to the field once again in a bid to return to fitness next season.
And in the midst of all this, Grealish became a father for the first time and experienced what any father would say is the best day of their lives.
He and his childhood sweetheart, Sasha Attwood, welcome their daughter Mila Rose Grealish into the world on September 27, 2024, in a moment that will change his life forever, and that undoubtedly brings with it new challenges that he will have to face. face in your life, in addition to a lot of joy. to last the rest of his career, no matter what happens on the field.
He was still a prominent figure in his return to the team after leaving to be with his partner and daughter, but only two of the next seven league games saw him play more than 16 minutes as his teammates took advantage of their own opportunities.
In his last game, against West Ham at the weekend, he played just six minutes, before
At the end of the day, Grealish retains his manager's support, even though Guardiola is one of the hardest-to-please managers in the history of the sport.
If anything, his comments after Saturday's win speak of a coach willing to do everything possible to help his player return to his best form, as long as he sees the prior effort required in return, although there is nothing to suggest that is missing
While he has failed to bring the same electric jolt of energy to games on a regular basis, Grealish can take solace in the fact that his performances are not that different from 2022-23, from a statistical point of view.
He has fewer goals and expected goals, but is higher in shots attempted (1.8 vs. 2.0), chances created (2.2 vs. 3.4), passing accuracy (88 percent vs. 94 percent) and crossed success (18 percent compared to 19). percent).
Grealish and Sasha Attwood welcomed their first child into the world in September 2024.
Grealish hopes to show Thomas Tuchel what he is capable of to force his return to the England team.
Compared to what is considered his best season at City, he is actually only three percent worse in dribbles and 0.1 in assists per 90 minutes in the Premier League.
'I have no doubt about the quality of Jack or any of these players. “They wouldn't be here (otherwise),” Guardiola said after the 4-1 win over West Ham.
'I know he can do it because I saw it. “I saw his level and I love him, in every training session and in every game.”
To suggest that the player's City career is nearing its end would be extremely reactionary and reductionist, especially given Guardiola's confident comments.
Regardless, it will be intriguing to see how this talented forward can battle through a 2024 full of setbacks to regain his claim as one of the first names in the squad for both Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel. .
Perhaps the best way to return to the fold is to return to what earned him that £100m price tag: playing with the freedom and joyous abandon that put so many smiles on so many faces.