Former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder Steve McManaman is backing Jack Grealish to continue improving after a slow start to life at Manchester City.
After lighting up the Premier League with numerous glittering performances for Aston Villa last season, City swooped to sign Grealish in August, landing him in a British transfer record £100million deal.
However, the England international has so far failed to live up to his humungous price tag, frequently finding himself in out of the starting line-up, with his form not proving to be enough to help him retain his place in Pep Guardiola's strongest starting line-up.
Since joining the club, Grealish has scored just three goals and claimed three assists in 20 appearances, meaning his contributions have been a far cry from what would have been expected from a player that cost £100million.
Nevertheless, McManaman, who is frequently a co-commentator on BT Sport, believes the size of the transfer fee that City paid for him has not helped in respect to some of the criticism that has been sent in his direction.
"There's more scrutiny because of the price tag," McManaman told horseracing.net, as quoted by the Mirror. "If he had gone to City for £10million, no one would be interested.
"But as soon as he went to £100million and he became the most expensive player, of course there's more attention on him and his performances."
Nevertheless, the former England man is confident that the best us yet to come from the former Notts County loanee.
McManaman added: "He does have to improve.
"I didn’t necessarily expect him to have a superstar performance against Wolves as it wasn't a game where you could ‘star’ by the way the game was played, with Wolves basically just defending. But yes he will get better.
"Working with Pep Guardiola will make him better. He does have to be a little bit quicker, because Manchester City play quicker than the way he played at Aston Villa, but he’ll be fine."
After being left on the substitutes bench against Newcastle United last weekend, Grealish will be hoping to return to the starting line-up against Leicester City on Boxing Day, with the busy festive period almost certain to create opportunities for him to shine.
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