Grealish misses Man City tour despite training return

Manchester City returned to pre-season training last week and midfielder Jack Grealish was spotted among the players who had reported for duty. But any immediate hopes of seeing the 30-year-old donning a City shirt once more were dashed on Tuesday night when he missed out on a seat on the plane for the club’s tour of Hong Kong and Seoul over the next 11 days. Sources have said Grealish continues to recuperate from a season-ending foot injury sustained in January during a loan spell at Everton, where he was starting to recapture his best form, and it is too early to speculate what the future might hold.

The injury ended not only his time at Hill Dickinson Stadium but an outside shout at playing at the World Cup for England too. Having seemingly been discarded by former boss Pep Guardiola, Grealish now finds himself back at City as he enters the final 12 months of his contract with little sign of being offered new terms on his reported £300,000-a-week wages. The former Aston Villa captain turns 31 in September and the key question is whether new boss Enzo Maresca will reintegrate him into the first-team set-up or be happy to sanction a move which will end his time at Etihad Stadium.

The Italian left the door open last week, saying: “At the moment, he is here. In any club I join, I like to know if there are players that belong to the club. “It’s my duty to try to coach them.

I have a good relationship with Jack since I left. Also, we keep in touch, and the reason why is because he has a big heart and he is a very good guy. So this is the reason why and then we see what happens.” Maresca, though, will be concerned by apparent images of Grealish being pictured drinking in the afternoon twice in the past three months.

He was the face of City’s celebrations following their Treble triumph in 2023 but rejected claims of being a “party boy”, saying he was just “enjoying himself”. Repeated images looking worse for wear will not help his cause and may put off any potential suitors. Grealish has not kicked a football in competitive action since the start of the year, while compatriot Kalvin Phillips returns to the club too following an unsuccessful loan spell in the Championship at Sheffield United last season.

While still only 30 years old, Phillips’ career has nose dived since joining City from Leed…