The Treble to the periphery - what's going on with Jack Grealish?

Jack Grealish is at a crossroads.

One of the joint most expensive British footballers, Grealish should be looking forward to Manchester City's mouth-watering Champions League play-off round match with Real Madrid on Tuesday.

But, if recent experience is any guide, he is more likely to be featuring in an FA Cup fourth-round tie at League One Leyton Orient on Saturday.

Grealish has not started a match since he scored during the 8-0 third-round win over Salford on 11 January.

Later that month, the 29-year-old was on the bench as Pep Guardiola's men trailed at half-time in their must-win final Champions League first-phase game against Club Brugge. But instead of his £100m man, Guardiola turned to relatively untested Brazilian Savinho - a £30.8m signing from Girona last summer - to lead the salvage operation.

Grealish did not feature for a single minute.

Guardiola was not even asked about it afterwards because none of the reporters present were surprised.

How did we get here? What has gone wrong for the England international? And is there a way back for him at City?

Just over a month before the Brugge game, Guardiola delivered a straightforward public message to Grealish, challenging him to prove he deserved to regain his spot and explaining why Savinho was being chosen ahead of him.

"Savinho is in better shape and everything than Jack, and that's why I played Savinho," he said. "Do I want the Jack that won the Treble? Yeah I want it, but I try to be honest with myself about that. They have to fight.

"You can say it's unfair. If you think that, it's fine, but you have to prove [to me], 'OK, I'm going to fight with Savinho, to deserve to play in that position', every single day, every single week and every single month."

Despite such criticism, Grealish subsequently managed his first goal in more than a year against Salford City.

And then against PSG he scored for the first time in the Champions League since 2021.

But those statistics merely underlined the inescapable sense of drift - and Grealish has not played at all in the three matches that have followed.

Asked again on Friday about Grealish's lack of game time before the FA Cup tie at Orient, Guardiola said he was "so sorry" he had not given him the minutes he "maybe deserved".

"It's not that I don't like Jack," he added. "I know his attributes, it's just the big impact Savinho has had on assists and goals.

"The manager sometimes has to select one player over another. I make mistakes sometimes... it is manager life and you have to accept it."

Some of those close to Grealish emphasise it is not just him that has endured a difficult season - the same can be said for the whole team. They feel Grealish has lost out in Guardiola's desperate search for solutions to the worst period of his managerial career.

Kevin de Bruyne, it has been pointed out, has also been repeatedly overlooked. They also say it is wrong to compare the man who shone for Aston Villa with the current version at City because he has been used very differently.

Indeed, one referred BBC Sport to the recent comments of former England winger Theo Walcott, who last month said: "I see a player who has incredible talent that's been absolutely coached out of him. I just feel he's gone away from his strengths. Everything that is Jack Grealish has been trained out of him."

Others disagree the manager has in some way drilled the creativity out of his player.

"He's just got to get on with it," says ex-Villa manager Tim Sherwood, who gave a teenage Grealish his first league start 10 years ago, and still speaks regularly to him.

"It happens to everyone. He gets into pretty much every other Premier League team. I've no idea what Pep's issue is, but he owes a lot to Pep.

"He wants to play, but he knows what to do. He's just got to keep working hard. He'll bounce back, he's a good pro. He's never been 'first choice'. I'm not sure who is at City."

Grealish's struggles to get into City's starting side are nothing new. At the end of last season he admitted his 2023-24 campaign had been "stop-start".

"We have so many good players here so it's difficult," he added. "There's no team in the world that rotates like this team do, but that's the beauty of it."

But Guardiola still seems unsure what to make of Grealish, or even where to play him.

As recently as early December, the manager praised his performance after playing him in a central role against Nottingham Forest - the one game in a chronic 13-match spell they did win - and even joked he may have made a mistake by previously using him as a winger.

Yet, just a month later, Guardiola publicly suggested the player's standards had slipped, leading to rumours Grealish could leave during the January transfer window.

That did not happen, but the arrivals of another forward in Omar Marmoush and central midfielder Nico Gonzalez, plus Oscar Bobb's return to fitness, bring even more competition.

So when did Grealish's fall down the pecking order really begin?

Just 20 months ago he had been at the centre of City's finest hour, playing every minute of their Champions League final triumph over Inter Milan in Istanbul. He had also played virtually all of the magnificent 4-0 semi-final victory over Real Madrid, and the FA Cup final win against Manchester United.

Grealish then became the face of City's Treble festivities. His drinking and lack of sleep received much of the attention, and he admitted he had reported "a bit hungover" for England duty.

It all reinforced the sense of enjoyment, authenticity and openness that has endeared him to fans and team-mates, evoking memories of Paul Gascoigne's flamboyance. But it also risked raising concerns with his coaches.

"There is a line," said England manager Gareth Southgate, when asked whether it was excessive of Grealish to party for three days - in what many interpreted as a subtle warning to keep the revelry in check.

"I don't think it is a party-boy thing," Grealish said, when asked whether criticisms over the celebrations had bothered him.

"I would never sit here and lie to you and say 'yeah, I don't drink and I don't party' because I do… I just enjoy myself, I'm living my dream of playing for the best club in the world in my opinion. I knew [what] I was doing, that's just the way I am, I'm like that when I party usually."

Back in 2021, Grealish and Phil Foden were warned over their conduct by Guardiola after the pair were pictured on a night out following a match. Both were then dropped, with the manager saying: "I pay a lot of attention to behaviour on and off the pitch."

The following year, however, Guardiola defended a group of his players - including Grealish - when similar images emerged, and there is no evidence he had concerns about the post-Treble celebrations.

But what is clear is that was the high point for Grealish. In the 2023-24 season that followed, he made just 10 starts, with three goals and three assists across all competitions. And even after injury issues had cleared up, he was largely overlooked, with Belgium winger Jeremy Doku often preferred.

Grealish hinted at a post-Treble comedown and, midway through last season, Guardiola suggested the winger needed to improve.

"He is the same player, he has the same manager and the way we play has not changed," he said. "It's just the way he has performed. That's the difference."

Grealish certainly seemed more of a free spirit at Aston Villa. Manchester United wanted him, and in 2020, they had a chance, but went for Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek instead. Someone involved at United at the time feels the arrival of Doku in the aftermath of the Champions League triumph might have affected him.

It also felt significant that last May, while praising his manager, Grealish admitted: "I've had times this season that I've struggled off the pitch - I don't mind saying that - and he's been there for me so much."

Some weeks later, he once again referred to personal issues - mentioning injuries, but then adding: "I also had a lot of, not a lot, but some stuff that happened off the field. Sometimes people from the outside don't see, they just think we just play football and we're these robots but we do have a life off the field as well. And sometimes it's difficult to deal with that."

Grealish was understood to be referring, at least in part, to a robbery at his Cheshire home while some of his family were present and he was away playing in December 2023 - an ordeal he described at the time as a "traumatic experience" that left him "devastated".

But there were further challenges to come.

Grealish was left "absolutely heartbroken" by being left out of Southgate's Euro 2024 squad - a decision he has since made clear he disagreed with. Several people close to the player told BBC Sport its impact on him should not be underestimated.

"The treatment that he had from England kicked him sideways, and made a real difference to his confidence," said one. "I know that's had some effect."

"It hit him like a sledgehammer," said another, who has worked closely with Grealish.

"He loves playing for England, and when the team is at a major tournament it is inescapable, wherever you are in the world. I know he found that hard."

Grealish responded to the snub by setting up his own summer training camp using Juventus' facilities, and refused the offer of additional time off. He clearly wanted to hit the ground running - but, while he did well on a pre-season tour in the United States, he was outshone by Norwegian youngster Bobb.

England's interim manager Lee Carsley recalled Grealish - starting him against the Republic of Ireland and Finland in September, then against Finland again the following month, with the City man scoring twice across the three games.

But his return to the international fold also frustrated Guardiola, with the coach annoyed England had again selected Grealish in November, despite his struggles with fitness.

"I'm always pleased for players to go - when they are fit and they haven't struggled for the past one, two, three or four weeks," said Guardiola at the time. "In 17 days he didn't train once... Jack has had two or three setbacks in terms of injuries and could not get his rhythm." Grealish subsequently withdrew.

If his confidence has been dented by Guardiola's pointed remarks, he would not be the first at City. Last year, Kalvin Phillips - another England international who struggled to convince his manager, despite costing the club £42m when signed from Leeds in 2022 - admitted he had been hurt by criticism over his weight.

Guardiola later apologised, but it is clear his intensity and exacting standards can come at a cost.

According to those who know him, Grealish is a popular figure within the dressing room, grateful for what his talent has given him, and a man who does not take himself too seriously. They claim he is also the player most likely to stop and talk to fans on site visits.

As his sister Hollie has cerebral palsy, there was something deeply personal about the friendship he struck up with young City fan Finlay Fisher - who also has the condition - that led to him doing a goal celebration in the 2022 World Cup in his honour. It fits with Grealish's description of himself as "relatable" in a recent film posted on the City website. "There's no filter," he added.

Those who knew him at Villa speak about a confident yet humble young man who would take his time with fans and staff at the club, asking about their families and how they were.

The humanity he showed belied the popular, trendy and handsome image in the headlines. "His authenticity came through," said one who worked with him.

Shaun Derry, who managed Grealish when he was a 17-year-old on loan at Notts Country in 2013-14, says he "misses seeing the old Jack".

In League One he made 37 appearances and scored five goals, with Derry witnessing the development of a young talent first hand.

"I felt I saw two Jacks really," he told BBC Sport. "One was this real young, immature kid who needed to quickly understand what we was looking to do at Notts County. Of course there was an immature Jack, he was 17.

"So it's really easy to understand looking back now, what that looked like, but there was an unbelievable confidence and bravery and individuality on the pitch.

"When he's looking back at his career he's going to see an absolute top level one, championships, experiences, international football. People will look back and probably look more fondly at Jack as they do now."

Grealish never pushed to leave Villa, his boyhood club, even after Tottenham circled following the club's relegation in 2016.

He stayed to help them return to the Premier League in 2019 and is viewed as being instrumental in Villa's recovery with an unshakeable belief in his talent described as "infectious".

"He allowed others to feel things were possible," said one former Villa employee.

However, some close to Grealish also feel Guardiola simply doesn't 'get' the England international. That he has still not worked him out.

The worry for Grealish would be if the manager has stopped trying to. And with the coach committed to City for another two seasons after this, the next few weeks will shape whether Grealish is there with him or not.

"I think it is pretty simple," former Premier League striker Chris Sutton said. "Jack's a level-headed lad and he knows he needs to prove himself to Pep - he knows he needs to get his head down and play well.

"You suspect with what has gone on that he may be surplus to requirements in the summer, but he always seems a decent guy who accepts his situation, and he knows he needs game time to show he has a future with City."

The year 2024 was notable for Grealish in other ways, becoming a father for the first time when his partner Sasha Attwood gave birth to a daughter in September.

"I would have thought that would be good thing, and calmed him down," said one friend. "He's always had lots of friends and activities. But now family and football are his focus."

However, a sign of the frustration Grealish has felt at times this season came after defeat against his boyhood club at Villa Park in December, when he was known to be upset after being booed and heckled by some of the fans who once adored him.

Grealish responded by holding up three fingers - believed to be a reference to the number of Premier League titles he has won since joining City. But, in reality, he has had little to boast about this campaign.

And as he approaches his 30th birthday, he faces a major challenge to revitalise his career for both club and country, and live up to the price tag and expectation his talents once generated.

Additional reporting by Chris Bevan