Kevin De Bruyne hits out at fans and pundits’ criticism of Jack Grealish after the £100m signing struggles to produce the goals and assists.
The Belgian international has defended his teammate, explaining the difference in pressure between playing for Manchester City and Aston Villa.
Grealish has struggled to since the Premier League holders since joining last summer, becoming the league’s most expensive signing ever.
Searching for the opener. Found within 55 seconds! 😅
Step forward, @JackGrealish 💥#ManCity pic.twitter.com/Vejd7G7KIA
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 20, 2022
Ahead of the weekend’s 3-0 victory at Wolves, Grealish hadn’t registered a goal contribution all season with his six goals and four assists last term his worst production since 2017.
Manager Pep Guardiola was forced to defend his record signing in the build up to the match, and was later rewarded when the England international opened the scoring after just 55 seconds.
Speaking post-match, De Bruyne said: “With all due respect he was at Villa before and if you lose a game sometimes it is not the end of the world.
“But if we lose a game it is different. We have to perform every week and win games. That is different and what he has had to adjust to. As long as we win the games and he is doing a good job for us, that is all that matters.”
He added: “If you start in the way we did it is an incentive to say: ‘OK I got a goal and am maybe a little more free in my mind to do what I need to do’.
“Sometimes as a football player there are periods you find the net easily and then there are other periods where it is a little bit harder.
“I think for him playing forward and to start this way makes it a little bit easier. Critics are there when you are a good player.
“If you set certain standards for yourself, everyone is going to measure you to these standards.
“He has been struggling with some pain and some injuries this year but he has been playing good to me.
“He started pre-season well and he was sharp but the second game at Bournemouth he did his ankle a bit. Be patient, I am not too worried. He is fine.”
Pep Guardiola has defended Jack Grealish over his Manchester City form, saying injuries have not helped the midfielder 👇pic.twitter.com/1epjZO6ERq
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 17, 2022
De Bruyne also commented on the pressures Grealish faces as an England player, with his off-field behaviour often taking him from the back pages to the front.
“It is not about football. Outside of football, the focus is more on them [England players],” he explained.
“I understand because they are English and people tend to look more at what is happening.
“I feel like foreign players, for instance if you have a night out, we don’t really get checked that often. Whereas I feel if an English player goes out, it is always in the media somewhere.
“I think people are taking this on board also. What he does in his private life he does, nobody should care, but people do.”
Kevin De Bruyne on Jack Grealish being under more pressure at Man City… pic.twitter.com/rkkg7AkOUl
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) September 20, 2022
Jack Grealish has promised to thank Pep Guardiola for selecting him.
On Guardiola’s attitude towards him, Grealish said: “It’s nice. He’s been great with me, I should thank him because he gave me the chance to play today after my performance on Wednesday, which wasn’t the best.
“I enjoyed that. My goal was a long time coming. My last goal was against West Ham at the back end of last season. And we got a great result against a top team.”
“I should be scoring more and getting more assists,” he said.
“All I can do now is score and get assists.
“I will always have people talking about me because of the amount I got bought for but if you look throughout my career, I haven’t scored loads.
“It’s something I want to add to my game and hopefully with this team and in front of these fans I can.”
Ahhh man that felt good 🥰🫶🏻 great win going into the international break! Away fans were incredible 💙 P:S thanks @KevinDeBruyne about time 😘🅰️ pic.twitter.com/13szVVyUNq
— Jack Grealish (@JackGrealish) September 17, 2022
It’s claimed this week that Jack Grealish reportedly asked his agent to search for a new club after telling those close to him that he expects to leave in 2023.
The Birmingham-born England international struggled to nail down a consistent starting spot in his debut season as his side won the Premier League.
Over 39 appearances across all competitions, he has only found the net six times whilst providing four assists.
Rio Ferdinand however has warned England boss Gareth Southgate against taking too many players to the World Cup who are not regular starters for their club sides, including Jack Grealish.
“There’s a lot of defenders, Marc Guehi, the only real surprise in there is the amount of players who aren’t playing regular football for their clubs.”
However, he did see the positives and negatives of including established players under Southgate.
“You gain trust through performances, this England team has done things that our generation never came close to,” he conceded.
“I understand a couple of players coming in, but when you’ve got more than one, if I was a player I’d be concerned they wouldn’t hit the peaks you’re used to them hitting.
“I’m thinking I hope you get more minutes before the World Cup, I hope you don’t come in rusty.”
Meanwhile, Graeme Souness has said: “Jack Grealish is not a great player.
“I understand why people think he is better than he actually is.”
“I see the same Grealish as I saw at Aston Villa a couple of years ago.”
🤷♂️ “Jack Grealish is not a great player.”
👀 “I understand why people think he is better than he actually is.”
👎 “I see the same Grealish as I saw at #AVFC a couple of years ago.”
Graeme Souness says Grealish hasn’t improved enough since joining #MCFC. pic.twitter.com/rWp653pk6m
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) September 20, 2022
Twitter users reacted as Kevin De Bruyne hits out at fans and pundits’ criticism of Jack Grealish in recent months…
@mcfcjxmes: Grealish is a top baller
@SamFree55640200: If u watch the inside city videos, you’ll see he’s one of the most well liked players in the squad. That shows that he has a good work ethic as I doubt players like De Bruyne would be mates with him if he didn’t have a good work ethic
@Anderson_5454: Real talk, thats the difference between Grealish playing for Aston Villa and Grealish playing for man city, the ambitions are different losing at Aston Villa is normal but losing games at Manchester City is unacceptable base on the standards that has been set
@PepDegree: Shouldn’t really be beefing with villa they’ll probably go down anyways
@IFeedel: Every time someone says with all due respect just know that the next thing that follows is a big disrespect 😂
@Paddy33Singh: Can’t argue with that because he told the truth. When we had Jack the aim was to stay up then get mid table at City it’s to win titles the focus to perform every week is different. What KDB said is 💯 true
@pete_bully: Grealish was ten times the player at villa , with all due respect anyone with eyes can see that Kev. 👍🏻
@Harry_VTID: With all due respect. Win a UCL or any sort of European cup before you start speaking bad on our name
@military_villan: With all due respect, Jack is a Villa fan and was captain. Losing with Villa will mean an awful lot more than with the soulless state owned club of City.
@mvrklew: Talking like his club wasn’t founded 14 years ago
@AstonVilla_Poll: With all due respect KDB you don’t speak on behalf of Aston Villa on how we feel.
@LennanTomlins: De Bruyne is getting a lot of stick for this but I kind of see what he means. It’s perhaps just not worded the best. #AVFC
@MikeORourke1983: I dunno about this from Kevin De Bruyne. Try telling this to Villa fans when they’ve lost a game… @City_Xtra. #grealish
@AVFCFaithful_: This is not true whatsoever. @KevinDeBruyne you are talking absolute bollocks. #avfc
@Reece_AV: I’d argue losing a game as Captain of your boyhood club is different to losing a game as a bit part player, no? 🧐
@holt_av: If a city fan thinks losing now hurts more than when they were shit they were never really a city fan 👍 #AVFC #MCFC
@simonlines: With all due respect, Kevin, you are talking absolute bull. This is up with there with Liverpool’s stupid ‘this means more’ slogan on the side of their team coach. Weird mentality to think winning or losing means more to one club than any other. Really strange.
@ManCityNumbers: Not going to lie, it’s extremely suspect, but our players having to defend a £100M signing, is a sign of a red flag. They know Grealish isn’t up to the standard.

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