Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has apologised to Jack Grealish for his lack of game time this season.
John Stones, Rodri and James McAtee are the only three senior City players with fewer Premier League minutes than Grealish this season, and the former two have had major injury problems.
The £100million man has only played more than 45 minutes in a game once since Christmas Day, and that was in an 8-0 thumping of fourth-tier Salford City in the FA Cup.
Despite Grealish’s eye-watering price tag, and the fact he played an important role in City’s 2022/23 treble win, Guardiola has admitted that he currently has more faith in Savinho and Jeremy Doku on the left flank.
« I’m so sorry some players don’t get the minutes that maybe they deserve » said the Blues boss ahead. « But at the end, the contributions from Jeremy or Savinho have been massive this season. This is the only reason why; it’s not personal, or I don’t like Jack, or I don’t have confidence in him. »
Savinho, 20, has seen nearly twice as much Premier League action as Grealish this campaign. And Doku, who has spent time on the sidelines through injury, has also played significantly more than the Englishman.
« Of course, when you give one player more minutes than another, you have more confidence [in them] right now, » Guardiola explained. « But I know [Grealish’s] attributes, it’s just for the fact that for the impact one of the big, big news this season is Savinho.
« It’s his first season; his impact in goals, assists… last game at Arsenal he made an incredible step up defensively and in challenging duels. And this is the reason why [he is getting more minutes]. »
Grealish, who has two goals in his last three City appearances, is in contention to start at Leyton Orient in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday. Guardiola will be looking to keep his big hitters fresh ahead of next week’s Champions League play-off first leg against Real Madrid.
But the manager insists he is giving his full respect to Orient before turning his attention to Los Blancos.
« Tomorrow, after the game, we will come back early to Manchester, and if we have time we will start to talk [about Real Madrid], » he said. « Of course I have an eye to Madrid but Leyton Orient deserve my attention. It has always been like that. Otherwise we would not get to the amount of semi-finals and finals of the FA Cup that we had in the last five, six years. »
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