Jack Grealish's Manchester City Exile Is About Far More Than a Foot Injury

Jack Grealish has been left out of Manchester City's pre-season tour squad for Hong Kong and Seoul, with the club citing his ongoing recovery from a foot injury sustained on loan at Everton in January as reported by BBC Sport. But the official line only tells part of the story.

With one year left on a reported £300,000-a-week contract, no extension in negotiation, and a manager offering only carefully worded diplomacy rather than commitment, Grealish's absence from the plane to Asia looks less like a routine fitness update and more like the quiet start of an exit from the club he once symbolised in its most triumphant moment according to ESPN FC.

Why Grealish missed the flight: injury or something more?

City returned to pre-season training last week, and Grealish was among the players who reported for duty. Yet when the squad boarded the plane for the club's tour of Hong Kong and Seoul, spanning 11 days and three friendlies, his name was not on the list BBC Sport reports.

The injury that derailed a World Cup dream

Sources say Grealish is still recovering from the season-ending foot injury he suffered in January while on loan at Everton, a spell in which he was reportedly rediscovering his best form. That injury did not just end his season at Hill Dickinson Stadium, it also killed off what BBC Sport describes as an outside shout at an England World Cup recall.

Everton, for their part, chose not to make the loan permanent, sending Grealish back to a club where his long-term future is already in serious doubt. He turns 31 in September and enters the final 12 months of his deal with, in the BBC's words, "little sign of being offered new terms."

Maresca's diplomatic words

New manager Enzo Maresca has faced early questions about Grealish's status, and his answer last week was carefully hedged rather than reassuring.

"At the moment, he is here. He is a Manchester City player. I always said the same. In any club I join, I like to know if there are players that belong to the club. It's my duty to try to coach them. Jack is here. I have a good relationship with Jack since I left. Also, we keep in touch, and the reason why is because he has a big heart and he is a very good guy. So this is the reason why and then we see what happens." (BBC Sport)

Praise for the person, not the player

Read closely, that is not a vote of confidence in Grealish's role in the squad. It is praise for his character, an acknowledgement of a personal relationship, and a deliberate "we see what happens" that leaves every door open, including the exit. Managers building a team around a player rarely need four sentences to hedge on whether he belongs.

This is Maresca's first defining man-management call as City boss, with his first match against Inter Milan arriving on Saturday. Handling Grealish's situation publicly, rather than privately, before a ball has even been kicked under his management suggests City are already managing perception around a departure.

Off-field scrutiny at the worst possible time

Compounding the uncertainty, Grealish has been photographed drinking in the afternoon on two occasions in the past three months, according to BBC Sport. He has previously rejected the "party boy" label, insisting he was simply "enjoying himself," but repeated images of him looking worse for wear land at precisely the moment his value and future are under the microscope.

• Grealish has not played competitive football since the start of 2026.
• He is reportedly on £300,000 a week with 12 months left on his deal.
• Everton passed on a permanent transfer despite his improved form on loan.

A cautionary parallel: Kalvin Phillips' cautionary tale

Kalvin Phillips, who joined from Leeds United in 2022, has also returned to the club following an unsuccessful loan at Sheffield United and has likewise been excluded from the Asia tour squad.

Seven minutes in two years

Phillips, still just 30, has played a mere seven minutes of EFL Cup football for City across the past two seasons, per BBC Sport's reporting. That statistic alone illustrates how completely a marquee signing can fall out of a manager's plans, and City appear open to offers for him this summer.

The parallel with Grealish is instructive. Both were high-profile English internationals brought in to strengthen City's squad, both have seen their standing collapse under changing managerial regimes, and both now find themselves frozen out at the exact moment a new head coach is assembling his first squad. It is not a good omen for either man's Etihad future.

What next for Grealish's Etihad future?

City have taken an unfamiliar-looking 28-player group to Asia, resting World Cup exertions for the likes of Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki and Nico O'Reilly, while blooding academy talent alongside senior figures such as Gianluigi Donnarumma, Phil Foden, Josko Gvardiol and Antoine Semenyo. Grealish's absence from that group, injury or not, leaves him on the outside looking in as Maresca's era begins.

The key question now, as BBC Sport frames it, is whether Maresca reintegrates Grealish into his first-team plans once fully fit, or whether City quietly sanction a sale before his contract runs down to its final months. With no extension being discussed and suitors likely wary given his recent off-field scrutiny and lack of match sharpness, a permanent move away from City before or during the 2026-27 season looks increasingly plausible.

For now, Grealish watches from home as City begin a new chapter without him, facing Inter Milan on Saturday before further friendlies against K-League All Stars and Atletico Madrid in Seoul. Whether the sun is setting permanently on his Blues career may not be decided this week, but the direction of travel is becoming difficult to ignore.