During last year’s summer transfer window, Jack Grealish broke the record of being the most expensive British player ever as he switched his allegiance from Aston Villa to Manchester City.
The deal is reported to have been valued at around £100M, with several add-ons raising the amount to £113M.
At present, it can be safe to say that the 27-year-old English winger is yet to live up to the price tag in 51 appearances for the Premier League champions, with an underwhelming tally of seven goals and registering four meager assists.
Before his move, donning the Claret and Blue’s colors, he was tearing it up at Villa Park. Drawing multiple fouls, bamboozling opponents with his feet, and leading the team were a few of the many qualities which prompted City to break the bank.
His goal involvements during his Aston Villa days weren’t too different, scoring 6 & 8 times respectively in his last 2 seasons for the club. These statistics do not help to paint a pretty picture but that is exactly what he spoke about to the French magazine, L’Equipe.
“[Using statistics] is the worst argument you can use in my case. I have never scored many goals in my career. [At Villa] I only scored six [20/21], eight [19/20], and six [18/19],” said Grealish during his interview.
“So if Man City bought me, it wasn’t for my statistics. I’d love to pile on the goals and assists, but I’m not that type of player. I can offer other things to my team, for example attracting two or three opponents toward me, which frees up space for teammates,” added the England international.
He has been scrutinized a lot by the media and the numbers are there to back it up in today’s modern football where goals and assists determine how good a player is.
Kevin De Bruyne had defended his teammate earlier this year by saying that Jack Grealish is an easy target for unfair criticism and believes he is judged more harshly simply because he is English.
Jude Bellingham, the teenage prodigy playing for Borussia Dortmund, had also spoken about the overuse of statistics being used to judge players, a year back.
He praised French genius Zinedine Zidane and reminded supporters about the beautiful game’s influence is not only based on goals & assists.
Jack Grealish is a player with flair and finesse, and at his best, he can be a joy to watch with his dancing feet leaving opponents in both shock and awe.
Reflecting the same quality on the final scoresheets would add a different dimension to his game, making him a deadlier ball player.
Pep Guardiola absolutely adores the player and after a year of adjustments to moving to a new club, he would definitely try to bring the best out of him soon.
