Jack Grealish has been Manchester City’s unseen hero this season, says Kevin De Bruyne.
The £100million record signing had his best game for the Blues on Sunday. Grealish took a big part in the demolition of Manchester United in the derby, playing a key role in De Bruyne’s two goals and then looking unplayable at times as City threatened to run riot in the second half.
But, while Grealish ’s contribution in that game was self-evident, the player himself has expressed his desire to bump up his stats, with just four goals and three assists to his name. Manager Pep Guardiola has already dismissed any obsession with the numbers as being “stupid”.
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But Grealish himself is clearly conscious of the fact that his seven goal involvements this season - four goals and three assists - means he is the only attacking player on the squad who has not hit double figures. Leading the way is Riyad Mahrez with 29 (21 goals, eight assists), followed by De Bruyne and Foden, both with 18, Raheem Sterling 17, Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus both with 14, Ilkay Gundogan with 12 and Joao Cancelo with 11.
Those figures partly explain the surprise that Grealish started the derby ahead of Sterling, who has bagged 13 goals and four assists, and who appeared to have been rested for this one by sitting out the FA Cup win at Peterborough in midweek. Sterling’s omission and Grealish’ inclusion also seemed to take the Reds by surprise, as they struggled to cope with his more subtle skills as opposed to Sterling’s directness and pace.
The meaninglessness of the stats was emphasised against United when Grealish played a big role but did not score or register an assist. De Bruyne - who by contrast has ten goals and eight assists - echoed his manager by saying that the figures do not tell the full story.
“My feeling is that Jack has been playing good,” said De Bruyne. “In this day and age, if you’re a winger or attacker people say goals and assists are very important. But he carries a threat, he creates spaces so much for other people.
"It’s not something you always see. He attracts so many defenders and the rest of us can sometimes benefit from that. He’s been doing well, then he had a little injury but now he’s back and we’re very happy to have him back.”
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