Jack Grealish admits he feels 'more freedom' playing for England than for Manchester City
- Planet Sport writer
- 9 June 2022
Jack Grealish has spoken of how much he enjoys playing for England, but insists that shouldn't be confused with not enjoying playing for Manchester City.
Jack Grealish has admitted he feels much more freedom whilst playing for England than he does in the "structured" football at Manchester City.
Grealish made a £100million move to Man City last summer, although he has failed to shine as often as he would have liked for the Premier League champions.
By contrast, he put in a creative star turn from the bench for England during their 1-1 draw in Germany this week as calls grew louder for Gareth Southgate to hand him a bigger role for the Three Lions.
"That's what the manager asked me to do - go on and be myself and try and create and that's what I did," Grealish explained.
"I feel sometimes when I'm here I can try and play with as much freedom as possible. I felt like I did that today."
Reporters then asked Jack Grealish if he felt more freedom playing for England than he did at Manchester City, and his answer was emphatic.
"I do think that, yeah," he admitted. "I feel at times I've played a bit safe at City but when I come here I feel like even in training I feel like I train really well, score goals, get assists and whatnot.
"When I come on the pitch… it's hard to explain. I do feel like I play with a lot more freedom here and hopefully I can transfer that into my club football and keep on improving."
Despite Grealish's comments, he was clear that leaving Manchester City was the farthest thing from his mind right now and paid tribute to manager Pep Guardiola.
"I'll speak to him (Guardiola) next year when I get back, but I'm fine, honestly, I'm enjoying myself at City.
"I love coming away here honestly, and I've said so many times, I think sometimes, especially the manager (Southgate), people are too harsh on him.
"I feel like, last game for example, we lose the first game in I don't know how long it was, a bit of palaver, and it's like we've lost a game, it happens. You know.
"And one thing I can say he's done, when we come away here, everyone loves it - from the staff to the players.
"We all get on like a family and I feel like that's why we've been so successful over the last couple of years and even before I was in the squad, at tournaments."
