John Terry has encouraged Manchester City star Jack Grealish to start looking at a potential transfer away from the club in a bid to revive his career.
The winger, who moved to the champions in 2021, has endured a more than difficult 18 months at the Etihad, with his creative spark dimming by the month.
Grealish has failed to score, and only contributed one assist, in what has been a more than disappointing Premier League season for Pep Guardiola’s usually all-conquering City side.
The 29-year-old has fallen down the Spaniards pecking order, only managing 28 minutes of league football since the turn of the year despite being fit for the majority of the 10 games in that time.
And Terry, who both played with and coached Grealish at Aston Villa, believes the winger may need to assess whether he wants to stay in Manchester.
‘I think it will be good for him to weigh up his options,’ Terry said on TalkSPORT’s breakfast show. ‘I’m not saying leave Man City, because they’re one of the top teams in the world.
Jack Grealish hasn’t scored a league goal for Man City this term and is struggling for minutes
John Terry believes it would be good idea for Grealish to consider a possible transfer away from City
Terry was Grealish’s captain at Villa during the 2017-18 season and also coached him after
‘But I think he needs to ask questions, ‘Am I going to be part of this in the future?,’ but Jack is an unbelievable talent, and I think he’s at his best when he’s got the freedom, and I think he needs a manager to give him the license to be Jack Grealish.
Terry captained Grealish in the 2017-18 campaign, his sole season at Villa, before spending three years as assistant coach as the winger grew into the club’s star man.
Grealish enjoyed a successful first two years at City, winning everything there is to win – including the Champions League as part of a treble – and becoming a key cog in Guardiola’s machine.
However, with his form in freefall, Grealish has managed just six Premier League starts this campaign as City face losing their title to champions-elect Liverpool for the first time in five years.
‘Knowing Jack, he’s not the type of player that wants to be sitting on the bench, I don’t think it’s good for him,’ Terry continued.
‘I think he’s at his best when he’s playing week in, week out when he’s dominating – he’s one of those players that kind of takes it on the back foot.
‘Gets at defenders, drives the team up the pitch, drives the team forward, so I think for him, he needs to start playing.
He needs to look at his options, because Man City have not been great this year and he’s still not getting a look-in.
Grealish hasn’t made a league start since December and spends most games on the bench
The England star had spent the evening at the North Biddick Social Club near Sunderland
Thomas Tuchel did not select Grealish for his first England squad and called his night out ‘not ideal’
‘So from his side, I’d be a little bit worried and go, ‘I need to get out,’ because England means the world to him. And I have to say, all eyes are on Jack always, it’s difficult, he’s a young boy with a lot of pressure on his shoulders.
‘I’ve never seen anyone work so hard at a football club when I was at Villa, I’ve got a real insight into that as well and how much football means to him in general.’
Earlier this month, Grealish was spotted enjoying a night out in Newcastle, one day after featuring in Manchester City’s FA Cup fifth-round win over Plymouth Argyle.
After coming under much scrutiny for his performances this season, the decision to go to Tynside was view as ‘not ideal’ by England boss Thomas Tuchel, who omitted Grealish from his first Three Lions squad.
Tuchel revealed after announcing his squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia that he had spoken to the player, and that they both agreed he is not in the best shape to be featuring.
