Souness slams Jack Grealish as "not a quick learner" ahead of crucial season
Graeme Souness has slammed Manchester City star Jack Grealish for not being a “quick learner”.
Grealish, 26, left boyhood club Aston Villa last summer in a massive £100million transfer to the Premier League champions. Yet things have not gone to plan for the former Villa talisman, who spent much of last season on the bench.
Despite picking up a Premier League winners’ medal and his first major silverware, the England international started just 22 league matches last campaign and was snubbed for every one of City’s Champions League knockout fixtures. And pundit Souness has brutally put it down to Grealish being a ‘slow learner’.
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Souness said in a Sky Bet debate: "He’s not a quick learner. All the top players are quick learners. Jack’s had a year and for me he’s not improved."
Grealish was then defended by his former Villa team-mate Micah Richards, who argued that the maverick’s fee is what has resulted in his criticism.
But Souness hit back, saying: "I have not mentioned his transfer fee. City have got some world-class players. I’m looking at what he gives in the 90 minutes. I don’t see any improvement at all in him. Top players are quick learners, Micah."
Manchester United legend Roy Keane then chimed in by adding: "We’ll try and give Jack the benefit of the doubt. He’s about 26-27 now, you’re thinking he should have gone to City and maybe adapted a bit quicker, but sometimes it can be difficult.
"He’s gone in and he’s not really had the run of games, he had one or two injuries earlier in the season. He would have been disappointed, even at the last game being left out against his old club Aston Villa.
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“But they got over the line and you’d fully expect Jack to have adapted more to the demands of Man City and of Pep. We’ve seen him being left out of big games for City, and Gareth (Southgate) has done the same with England, so the penny has to drop for Jack.”
Grealish will be hoping to push on in his second season at the Etihad. He scored six goals and assisted four in all competitions, which paled in comparison the the seven goals and 12 assists he notched in the 2020/21 campaign.
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