Jack Grealish has stunned Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola after impressing in pre-season training.
The £100m signing of Aston Villa was left out of England Euro 2024 The team is a bold move by the former coach Gareth Southgate.
As Grealish prepares for the new season with City manIt seems that he is ready to put recent disappointments behind him and get to work immediately.
The 28-year-old is currently with his team-mates on City's pre-season tour of the United States and impressed during a training exercise, much to the surprise of Guardiola.
The quick-thinking exercise saw the team camp around the City boss, who had a ball in his hand.
The players were supposed to applaud every time Guardiola bounced the ball off the ground, but they had to be alert when the Spaniard simulated his rebounds.
As the task progressed, the group became smaller and players fell for Guardiola's antics – but not Grealish, who made it to the closing stages.
And that surprised Guardiola, who took advantage of the opportunity to make a hilarious joke about the star.
“Jack, you’re here,” the City boss said, to which Grealish replied: “Brainiac, brainiac.”
Guardiola replied mischievously: “I didn't expect that.”
The exchange seemed to put Grealish off, and he eventually succumbed to his manager's tricks.
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Grealish played in Manchester City's first match of their tour of the United States. a 4-3 defeat to Celtic on Tuesday night.
The Premier League champions complete their pre-season with clashes against AC Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea before returning to the UK for their Community Shield meeting with Manchester United.
City begin their quest for an unprecedented fifth successive Premier League title against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on August 18.
Guardiola does not know if he can count on his starting goalkeeper Ederson and talismanic midfielder Kevin De Bruyne who have been courted by teams in the Saudi Pro League.
City are believed to be keeping their options open to enter the transfer market despite Guardiola claiming the Belgian would not be going anywhere despite an offer from Al-Ittihad.
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The Spaniard, however, was more outspoken about Ederson's future at the club.
“I don't know, maybe now I have to look at other options,” Guardiola said when asked about the Brazilian's future.
“Of course I would like him to stay. It depends on the clubs now. I don’t know the situation. There has been no contact in the last few days. It’s a matter of training and being with us until the transfer window ends and we’ll see what happens.”
