Graeme Souness didn’t hold back on his criticism of Jack Grealish, saying the 27-year-old has poor decision-making in possession and hasn’t improved since leaving Aston Villa for Manchester City.
There was a lot of expectation on Grealish after his £100m move to City last summer and he’s not quite lived up to his billing. The England international scored less goals and assists at City than he did in his final two seasons at Villa and hasn’t got this campaign off to a good start either.
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Souness believes Grealish has not justified his transfer fee and doesn’t appear to have good vision as he’s frequently getting fouled, telling talkSPORT: “He is a good footballer. He is not a great player.
“He is a good player who got a big move and is yet to do it at Man City. I go back to the days at Villa and for two years he was the most fouled player in the Premier League.
“I see that two ways. You’re having too many touches if you’re the most fouled player. And the reason you’re having too many touches is because you’re not seeing the picture quickly enough.
“I understand why people think he is better than he actually is – because he runs with the ball and gets you on the edge of your seat. But he doesn’t deliver enough. He doesn’t see the right picture and he doesn’t deliver it quickly enough.”
Grealish was outstanding in his last two seasons at Villa. He had a hand in 14 goals from 36 Premier League games in 2019/20 and 16 goals from 26 Premier League games in 2020/21.
Only Kevin De Bruyne (3.9) and James Maddison (2.5) created more chances per game on average than the England international (2.5) in 2019/20. Grealish was the most fouled player too (4.6).
Only De Bruyne created more chances (3.2) per game on average than Grealish (3.1) in 2020/21 and he was the most fouled player again (4.2), so Souness’ claims that the 27-year-old isn’t seeing the picture on the pitch doesn’t ring true.
In other news, Ally McCoist identifies why Man City player is struggling
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