Pep Guardiola insists the only doubts he has about Jack Grealish relate to his fitness record.
The England winger has struggled to command a regular place in Guardiola’s Manchester City side this season.
He has made just 13 starts and 25 appearances overall this term, raising questions over the £100m signing’s future at the club.
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Aston Villa, where academy product Grealish was a hero before being sold for that record fee in 2021, are just one of the City rivals credited with an interest in the 29-year-old.
Yet City boss Guardiola points out that the player, one of the stars of the 2022/23 treble-winning campaign, has suffered a number of fitness setbacks, preventing him building any momentum this term.
This was seen in the first leg of City’s recent Champions League tie against Real Madrid, when Grealish played a lively 30 minutes from the start only to suffer an injury and be withdrawn.
Guardiola said: “Listen, Jack played at (Leyton) Orient and was really good, then played against Madrid afterwards.
“Madrid is not a friendly, right. After 20 minutes he was out, injured. It has happened this season.
“The reason Jack didn’t play much was because he was not able. He had niggles and problems.
“There is no question mark about his quality – I’ve never ever doubted the quality Jack has – but because of problems he has not played three games in a row.
“He played well against Nottingham Forest then afterwards didn’t play and in a training session was injured again.
“Not big issues but he could not make a big effort and sprint again and again and again. This is the only question mark, not any other question mark.”
Grealish came off the bench for the final minute of the midweek Premier League win at Tottenham, but Guardiola is yet to decide if he will feature in Saturday’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Championship Plymouth.
Guardiola said: “For this game, I don’t know if he will be ready to play in a game where you have to be there (physically). This is the question.”
