Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was pleased with what he saw from Jack Grealish as the summer signing from Aston Villa made his debut for the club in yesterday’s Community Shield defeat to Leicester City.
Kelechi Iheanacho scored a late winner for Leicester as they took the trophy, building on their FA Cup final success against Chelsea back in May as they continue to progress under manager Brendan Rodgers.
Still, most fans will have tuned in to get a look at Grealish as he made his first appearance for City following his £100m move (fee via BBC Sport) from Villa, and it seems Guardiola was happy enough with the England international, even if he couldn’t do more to have an impact on the result.
Speaking after the game, Guardiola praised the way Grealish drew defenders to him when he came on, and backed him to have a big impact at the Etihad Stadium over the next few years.
“He was really good – aggressive, going against full backs and every time he had the ball there were three players [around him],” Guardiola is quoted by the Metro.
“We will know him and step by step he will find the best.
“How can he build a relation when his mates are not here? But it’s not a problem, he knows Kyle and Raz and Phil and they are back tomorrow.
“We just need to provide him and let him express his quality. He didn’t come for 25 minutes, he came for five-six years.”