Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been warned by talkSPORT host Alan Brazil that he could lose Phil Foden and Jack Grealish if the manager continues to berate them in public. The boss had cited disciplinary issues as the reason behind Grealish and Foden’s exclusion from the side that played Newcastle United.
The England internationals had scored in their 7-0 win against Leeds United on December 14, but were pictured having a night out before the game against the Magpies. This infuriated Guardiola, who he ended up excluding both players from the matchday squad. He mentioned that the decision to keep them aside was “partially” based on disciplinary issues.
Their exclusion did not seem to add any worries to the club, who ended up defeating Newcastle United 4-0 on December 19 to strengthen their position at the top of the table. The Citizens are currently on an eight-match winning streak in the league, which took them three and six points clear of the chasing pack Liverpool and Chelsea, respectively.
During a talk show, Alan Brazil went all out against the City manager and said he was being too harsh on Foden and Grealish. He pointed out that this behaviour from Pep could result in them both leaving the club, which could prove to be fatal for their cause.
“I know it’s not going to happen, but what if Phil Foden and Jack Grealish said; ‘Okay, fine, we don’t think we’ve done too much wrong, we’re off.
The point I’m making is we don’t know how bad it was, or if it was much about nothing, but what I do know is that they are two great young players and it would be a blow if City are to lose them,”
Alan stated.
When he asked why they would want to leave, he said:
”There’s a lot of things that happen in football I don’t understand. Suddenly they want to go to Barcelona or Real Madrid.”
Incidentally, this isn’t the first time both these players were held responsible for disciplinary issues. During a stint with the English national team, Foden had paid the hotel workers in Iceland to sneak in girls into their room, an incident which also involved Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood. For breaching the coronavirus regulations, they were eventually left out of the squad.
Something similar happened in the case of Grealish when the 2019/20 season saw an abrupt break due to the pandemic. Although a lockdown was in place, the midfielder tried to meet a friend and was spotted by the paparazzi, an incident which also involved him dashing vehicles parked around the corner. This saw him get a nine-month ban from driving in England.
However, the popular opinion among pundits is that Guardiola is well-versed in dealing with such scenarios and in the past, he has dealt with such incidents many a number of times during his time with Barcelona and Bayern Munich. This wasn’t the first time he had a public fallout with a player, with the manager having a few spats with former striker Sergio Aguero a few times, but they always maintained a healthy relationship on the outside.
City are on course for a second Premier League title in a row, which could be Guardiola’s fourth since taking over in 2016. However, they have their eyes set on the biggest prize in Europe, the Champions League, something they missed by a whisker having lost in the final to Chelsea last time around.
They have drawn Portuguese champions Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League RO16 clash, and will enter this clash against Ruben Amorim’s side as favourites to go through.
