'Hopefully' - Jack Grealish breaks silence on Man City injury blow with 16-word message

Jack Grealish has posted online after missing the Community Shield clash with Manchester United on Saturday. The Manchester City forward had played a big part in pre-season prior to the game at Wembley but was ruled out late on with an issue.

MEN Sport understands the Englishman was deemed not to be fully fit, with the severity as of yet unknown. Grealish didn't travel to London with his teammates ahead of the game.

He had been a regular under Pep Guardiola throughout the summer, playing more than 300 minutes on the tour of America, scoring once. Only Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb featured more. Grealish's Wembley absence comes off the back of a disappointing third season in Manchester. He only started 10 league games, the fewest in his senior career since 2015/16, and clocked just over 1,000 minutes, scoring three times. Hampered by injury and form, Grealish was also left out of the England squad for Euro 2024.

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The 28-year-old took to social media shortly after the season curtain raiser had started, writing: "Come on the boys [light blue heart emojis] Gutted to not be out there today but will hopefully be back as soon as possible [light blue heart emoji]".

City take on Chelsea in the first Premier League game of the season next Sunday, a game Grealish will be keen to play in. Guardiola himself will be hopeful of getting the winger back. Speaking about Grealish earlier this summer, he purred, "What I’ve seen so far here, one week in the pre-season on tour, I loved it." Guardiola continued: "I don’t care how he performs, it’s every session his commitment and his trying, against Barcelona