Pep Guardiola’s midfield decision could hint at future Man City role for Jack Grealish
Jack Grealish would almost certainly have been handed a full day off against Burnley on Saturday were it not for a late injury to Kevin De Bruyne.
The Belgian midfielder has been back to his scintillating best in recent weeks and ran the show once again as Manchester City cruised to a 6-0 win over Vincent Kompany's Burnley in the FA Cup quarter-finals. Erling Haaland had grabbed his customary hat-trick by minute 59, before a Julian Alvarez brace and one more from Cole Palmer secured a trip to Wembley and a last-four clash with Sheffield United.
City were in cruise control when De Bruyne clashed with a Burnley defender, hobbling around the Etihad for a few minutes before Guardiola decided to take him off. Ilkay Gundogan was on the substitutes bench but the City boss instead turned to Grealish.
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So often in recent weeks has Guardiola put his faith in Grealish, the former Aston Villa man starting 12 of the 13 games between his off-the-bench goal against Manchester United and Saturday's brief introduction. The 27-year-old has been one of the first names on the team sheet since the turn of the year and has usually been kept on while changes are made elsewhere.
All of those starts - and almost every appearance since he joined the Blues in 2021 - have been out wide but a cameo in a more central position against Burnley could hint at a future role change. Guardiola has the option to bring on an experienced and natural central midfielder in Gundogan and by no means needed Grealish's creativity in a game City were leading 6-0.
The decision, it seems, could be the start of Guardiola trusting Grealish to operate in the more central areas of the attacking third with which he was