Big Grealish upgrade: Man City prioritising move for "Europe's best player"
After a disappointing season, Manchester City are preparing to spend big in the summer.
Back in January, the Sky Blues spent a reported £180m, that’s more than all other 19 Premier League clubs combined, recruiting five players, namely Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nico González, Vitor Reis and Juma Bah.
However, it appears as though this certainly won’t preclude the Citizens from spending big in the summer too.
So, does Pep Guardiola have his eye on a “world class” winger who some are labelling a potential Ballon d’Or contender?
Manchester City's first-choice winger target
According to reports in Spain, Manchester City have made Barcelona winger Raphinha their ‘priority target’ this summer, with Guardiola identifying him as their ‘ideal solution’ on the left-wing, while Chelsea and Al-Hilal are also interested.
The Brazilian, who joined Barça from Leeds United for £49m in July 2022, has been absolutely on fire this season, scoring 30 goals and registering 22 assists across all competitions.
In the Champions League specifically, the 28-year-old has equalled Lionel Messi’s tournament record for most goal involvements in a single season, requiring one more against Internazionale, or perhaps in the final itself, to surpass it.
This form has not gone unnoticed, with analyst Ben Mattinson labelling Raphinha a “world-class player”, while Julia Ranney of the Athletic notes that he is amongst the ‘top contenders’ to win the Ballon d’Or, actually currently the bookies’ favourite to do so.
So, he certainly will not come cheap but, given Barça’s ongoing, well-documented financial issues, perhaps a huge offer could tempt them to cash in.
Jack Grealish's Manchester City future
Guardiola is expected to oversee a major squad overhaul this summer; Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker are already confirmed departures, but many more are expected to follow, with Jack Grealish amongst those in the shop window.
This is the England international’s fourth season in Manchester and has been his least productive, as the table below outlines.
Appearances
39
50
36
30
Minutes
2,730
3,487
2,114
1,449
Goals
6
5
3
3
Minutes per goal
455
697
705
483
Assists
4
11
3
5
Starts
31
41
26
15
% of matches unused
33%
18%
39%
41%
As the table outlines, Grealish has endured a second successive miserable season at the Etihad, a key cog in the machine during the treble-winning campaign, but very much a peripheral figure more recently.
Earlier this season, Grealish went 392 days without a club goal in any competition, ending this barren streak by converting a spot-kick during an 8-0 demolition of Salford, an unused substitute for Manchester City’s last two Premier League matches, as well as nine of the last 15 fixtures he has been available for.
Richard Jolly of the Independent believes Grealish has gone from being ‘one of the most exciting attacking players in world football’ to now a player ‘who is neither exciting nor attacking’, hence why he is widely expected to be moved on this summer.
So, it probably goes without saying that Raphinha would be a major upgrade on the left wing, but let’s lay out the numbers to emphasise this assertion.
Appearances
30
49
Minutes
1,449
3,952
Goals
3
30
Assists
5
23
Goals – xG
+0.1
+5.2
Shots
31
161
Shots on target %
32.3%
39.1%
Take-on success %
37.8%
48.1%
Progressive carries
92
125
Shot-creating actions
65
212
Goals-creating actions
3
32
Touches per 90
38
51
Unsurprisingly, Raphinha – who Sky Sports’ Dougie Critchley described as “Europe’s best player in 2024/25” – comes out on top for every single metric we could find when compared to Grealish this season.
Thus, if the Sky Blues were able to lure the Brazilian back to England, it would be a major coup, and could be the statement signing they require to reinstate themselves as title favourites again.
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