Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola prompted further speculation over Jack Grealish’s standing and long-term future at the club by saying the winger is not fit to face Brighton this weekend despite being called into the England squad.
Grealish has not featured for the Premier League champions since coming on as a substitute during their 2-1 win at Wolves on October 20. That amounts to a five-game absence and City have lost each of their past three, to Tottenham, Bournemouth and Sporting CP, across three competitions.
Guardiola has been grappling with a wider injury crisis during this time but interim England manager Lee Carsley selected Grealish in his squad to face Greece and the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Nations League later this month
What Lee Carsley and Pep Guardiola said about Jack Grealish
“We are fully in contact with the medical staff and we expect Jack to be fit,” Carsley said at his squad announcement on Thursday.
“He’s trained in the last couple of days so he’ll come in, we’ll assess him and make sure he’s ready to play.
“I think he’s an important player not just for this camp but for the future. He’s a player who is great to coach and he’s an infectious character throughout the changing room, on and off the pitch.
“You can see he enjoys playing for England so he’s a player we wanted to give as long as we could.”
However, speaking a day later ahead of his City’s Premier League trip to Brighton on Saturday, Guardiola offered a terse response.
“That’s a question for the manager from UK [England],” he said, before offering a simple “no” in response to whether Grealish would be fit to play at the Amex Stadium.
Later, in the section of his press conference embargoed for UK newspaper deadlines, Guardiola expanded on his displeasure and implied Carsley was being somewhat economical with the truth over Grealish’s return to training. This is now a saga where what isn’t being said by all parties is being filled by presumption and innuendo, which does nobody involved any favours.
“He was in the gym for a few minutes, yes, the last two days,” Guardiola said. “It’s a question for the manager from the UK. I’m not involved. They can select who they want. All I’d say is the day after Wolves, he was injured. Then 17 days out and today [Friday] was the first training with the team.”
“I’m not the guy to say you cannot go. But for my team tomorrow he’s not fit, he cannot play. The people from England believe he can help. So go.”