He DESTROYED Jack Grealish: "He's good, but not great"
One of the best players of the English game took Grealish apart for their lacking performances
Jack Grealish may be the most expensive Premier League player ever and an England international, but he still not convicing some people. The former Aston Villa forward opened his tally for this 2022-23 season with his opener in Manchester City's clash with Wolverhampton, but Liverpool legend Graeme Souness remains unimpressed.
Since moving to Manchester City in a British-record £100 million transfer in 2021 from Aston Villa, the England star has only scored seven goals and provided four assists across all competitions. While Pep Guardiola defended him in the face of dismal numbers, Souness is still not persuaded.
The legendary midfielder claims Grealish has not developed since leaving Villa Park and not just because of his lacking goal-scoring performance. Souness thinks that because Grealish's vision is still below that of City, he's on the ball too frequently and slows down play for the Citizens."He is a good footballer. He is not a great player", Souness told UK radio talkSPORT, "He is a good player who got a big move and is yet to do it at Man City".
"I go back to the days at Villa and for two years he was the most fouled player in the Premier League", explained the former Liverpool manager, "I see that two ways. You're having too many touches if you're the most fouled player. And the reason you're having too many touches is because you're not seeing the picture quickly enough".
According to Souness, the excitement Grealish brings is making people ignore the stagnation in his game: "I understand why people think he is better than he actually is - because he runs with the ball and gets you on the edge of your seat. But he doesn't deliver enough. He doesn't see the right picture and he doesn't deliver it quickly enough".
"If he was a star every week, we would not be having this type of conversation about him", added Souness, who still believes that the former Aston Villa forward could get better. "I was willing to cut him some slack, because there is some kind of dribbling talent there".
However, Grahame Souness thinks this has to come from Jack Grealish himself, and not his coaching staff or teammates: "I look back on my own career and there was never a watershed moment where someone sat me down and told me how to get to the next level. I improved because I went to the best club in the world at the time, Liverpool, who had some of the best players in Europe at the time".