Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has left the door open to a return for Jack Grealish following his ongoing loan spell with Everton.The England international comes up against his parent club for ...
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has left the door open to a return for Jack Grealish following his ongoing loan spell with Everton.
The England international comes up against his parent club for the first time since signing on to a season-long agreement on Merseyside in the summer, but is ineligible to face City due to competition rules around temporary transfers.
Guardiola and his players will be hoping to pick up where they left off prior to the most recent international break, having established an unbeaten run between national team commitments after the September pause for action.
That run of results not only included big wins over the likes of Manchester United and Brentford in the Premier League, but also a robust showing away to Arsenal to secure a 1-1 draw on the road, as well as wins in the Champions League and Carabao Cup.
David Moyes’ Everton have been in fine form during the opening weeks of the season themselves, and will no doubt present a stern challenge when they make the short journey to Manchester this weekend.
As Manchester City prepare to return to duties, this is every single word from Pep Guardiola including his thoughts on a proposed salary cap, the success of Jack Grealish at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, and John Stones’ future.
On proposals for a salary cap in the Premier League: “For the managers as well? *laughs* Hopefully not!
“I have a vague opinion about that. I didn’t speak with my CEO Ferran [Soriano]. We’ll have to wait and I think what the clubs will decide, at the end it will be fine. And every decision and every rule that happens – when your colleague asked me about Jack [Grealish] playing or not playing, the loan players and so on – always there are positives and negatives.
“So we will see. I think Premier League always will be a strong league, in many things it’s the best and other things can be better. So what they decide the clubs, it will be fine because they decide. And we will see.”
On whether he would be happy if Jack Grealish joined Everton permanently next summer: “Listen, I don’t know. I think he has a contract – one more year, two more years with us. The most important thing is he’s back, he’s playing, a massive influence in the Everton game is there and after what happens, maybe Manchester City wants him back, so I don’t know.
“Many things are still going to happen. It’s about the clubs, the agents, of course the managers involved, but especially the clubs and we’ll see. The important [thing] is playing again, a lot of minutes.
“And this starter or this player, when it happened in the last two seasons, at the end – he said it perfectly – ‘I have to feel I’m alive, I have to see the butterflies before the game’, and this kind of passion to play in football that every player needs. And I’m happy, really, really honestly, that he’s back and trying his best.”
On whether John Stones has put his injury problems from last season behind him: “I hope so. I hope so. I’m happy that he’s back there [playing for England] and the confidence from Thomas [Tuchel] to him and John, there’s no doubts about his potential and his quality. I’m happy that he’s back to play with his country.”
On John Stones earning a new Manchester City contract: “Don’t ask me about that. The club will decide what is the best for John and see how he’ll perform, because when John is fit and he’s been part of the starting eleven or part of the group, the year of the Treble he was unbelievable, but since then he has not been this consistency in games. He’s been injured many, many times so that’s why we have to wait and see.”
On whether he could come up with a plan to stop Erling Haaland if he came up against him in future: “Yeah, of course. Four central defenders… I had the pleasure to face him when he was in Dortmund and hopefully I’m not going to face him again for the rest of my life. Hopefully.”
On whether that is a reflection of how much he fears him as the best in the world: “He’s a top-class player. In world football there are four, five, six, seven players that are unbelievable. They make a difference. Erling is one of them and we have him hopefully for many years and I’m really pleased with that.”
On the importance of Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Nico O’Reilly setting a high standard early on for Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri’s return: “That is the point; when you have fit [players] and they have to compete [among] themselves. Jeremy was unbelievable this season, against Brentford he didn’t play.
“At the end they have to compete and you have to decide, at the end all of the players it’s between them and their excuses. And they have to choose. They have to choose, ‘OK, me to get better or the excuses I put on all the time’. It’s simple. At the end if they want to compete and do the benefit…
“Of course everyone has their own problems and their own focus and families and stuff, but there is one target, and it’s the team to win games. All the guys can do it, it’s fine. I score three goals every game, you don’t worry that you’ll play every single game. Don’t worry. I score three games, or you’re the best defender or best- you will play.
“When you have excuses you cannot improve. That’s why. One of the reasons why we are successful is because of the excuses in this club or with me, I never appeared. We have momentums, can complain about these and that, it’s fine, but…
“And it’s good that they have to compete with each other. Whenever we are in the stands and see Jeremy’s and Nico’s and see all of them playing good, they are not stupid. They know, ‘Wow, this is the standard, this is the level, I have to play good, otherwise I will not play.’ So it’s simple.”
On whether that is one of the changes from last season, competition dropping: “Absolutely. Absolutely. So the year of the Treble, you know the players I had on the bench? Aymeric Laporte, an incredible central defender in the national team, Julian [Alvarez] and the other ones. I would love to have them. But they wanted to play. They didn’t play, they left.
“And Julian had to compete with Erling [Haaland]. When that happened, he’s top. That’s why now he’s at one of the best teams in the world, Atletico Madrid, playing for a top class manager and players and performing as well unbelievably.
“And maybe I would love to have him but I understand. So at the end, many players have happened. We have many, many examples of that. And the only chance we have is of course in all competitions… The year of the Treble, having the injuries we had last season, no, half of the season, forget about it the Treble.
“Forget about it. It would not have been possible to do it. So you have to be fit and the minutes they have, all of them, you know, use them the best for them and for the team.”
Category: General Sports
