Colin Sheridan: Change as good as a rest for Rashford and Grealish
Manchester City's Jack Grealish gestures to the crowd after the Premier League match at Villa Park las month. Pic: Mike Egerton/PA Wire.
On the surface, Jack Grealish and Marcus Rashford have a lot in common. Similar in age - the former is 29 years old, the latter 27 - both were prodigious footballing talents, homegrown kids who made their names at their boyhood clubs in Manchester and Birmingham. One - Grealish - had a reputation for the good life that looked potentially problematic in his formative years. The other - Rashford - developed similar nocturnal proclivities, just a little later in life. A pair of English internationals with 99 caps between them, and 21 goals (albeit 17 of those are Rashford’s), both have starred in major tournaments for England, and been sensationally left out by managers who - one can only guess - saw their sporadic talent as an indulgence rather than a necessity. This season, Grealish has appeared 14 times for his club, Manchester City, scoring no goals, and providing one assist. For Manchester United, Rashford has one more appearance than Grealish (15), has scored four more goals (four), and provided the same number of assists (one). The pair reportedly earn £300,000 (€361,000) respectively a week. Both have spent more time on the bench than most district court judges.
While their current status as well-paid extras in the soap opera that is the Premier League will win them little sympathy amongst fans who shell out big every weekend to watch them not play, you can’t help wondering what the players themselves must be thinking? Is this as good as it gets? Grealish has a Champions League medal, three Premier league medals, and FA Cup, a UEFA Super Cup and FIFA World Club Cup medal in his locker. Almost certainly he would’ve won none of those had he stayed at Aston Villa, where he was a hero to the Holte End because - even as opponents tried to kick the legs from under him - he played with the freedom of a gifted kid in a park. For his troubles, Rashford has won a couple of FA and League Cups, a Europa League, and has been voted the club's player of the year twice. Off the field, he’s been awarded an MBE for his incredibly admirable services to charity, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester. For a man so young and privileged, Rashford has displayed an altruism rare amongst sports people so conditioned to brand and bottom line. That his form has virtually disappeared as his philanthropy has grown is an unfortunate coincidence. Far more problematic for consecutive Manchester United managers has been Rashford’s burgeoning social life. As the goals have dried up, his appearances in the nightclubs of Manchester, Belfast, London and New York have received far more column inches than his play on the left wing. Yesterday, he missed United’s visit to Anfield with illness. Given his form this season, his absence was barely noticed.
Grealish came on as 84th-minute substitute for Erling Haaland on Saturday, his case for future inclusion not helped by the lightning play of 20-year-old Savinho, starting in Grealish’s preferred spot, who played a pivotal role in City’s first three goals in a 4-1 win at home to West Ham. The Brazilian did so doing the things Grealish used to do with such precocious abandon - taking risks, which begs the question - if Savinho can play that way, why can’t Grealish? Pep Guardiola has long been blamed (or credited, depending on your world view) for Grealish’s evolution as a carefree winger into a pragmatic possession magnate who follows Pep’s magic formula rather than run the risk of the dreaded shepherd's hook. His socialising - once the obsession of the red tops - is not so much of an issue these days, which, in a weird irony, makes you wonder where he gets his joy?
With both Manchester Clubs in differing states of flux, it’s doubtful that with Grealish or Rashford are the panacea to current ills, by their respective managers at any rate. With their clubs unlikely to sell them to rivals, what options do they have? Move abroad, but to who? England teammate Conor Gallagher left Chelsea for Atletico Madrid this summer. While he is an unfair comparison in terms of talent, Gallagher has managed just about as many minutes at his new club as both Grealish and Rashford have in the Premier League. Mason Greenwood has undeniably excelled at Marseille, while Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane exist in a different conversation entirely.
What to do, then, for two of the most gifted English footballers of the last decade? It was almost unanimously agreed amongst most invested in Irish football that Evan Ferguson staying at Brighton under Roberto de Zerbi a year ago was the right thing for the player to do in terms of development and maturity. While injuries have not helped, it has been an annus horribilis for the Meath man. A club that once looked the perfect fit for his immense talent suddenly looks like a prison from which he can’t escape.
Cautionary tales abound, but, for Grealish, Rashford, and Ferguson a change may well be far more beneficial than a rest. They’ve had far too many of those.
Remember Mikheil Kavelashvili banging in the goals at Maine Road? Neither do I, to be honest, but the one-time City striker was last week sworn in as the sixth president of Georgia, making him, by my count at least, the second former Manchester City player to become a head of state after former Ballon d'Or winner, George Weah, put in a decade building a political career before serving as the 25th president of Liberia from 2018 to 2024. Weah, the first African footballer to win the Ballon d’Or in 1995 - was only narrowly defeated last year when running for a second term in the West African country. Pro-Putin’s Kavelashvili’s candidacy was mired in controversy, as the Georgian presidential election was boycotted and disputed by the opposition, as well as by significant sections of the international community. He was the sole candidate on the ballot – a kind of lone-man-up-front role he will have been used to from his time leading the line at Spartak Vladikavkaz - and, as of today - his presidency has not been recognised by the outgoing president Salome Zourabichvili, who refused to step down on Sunday, saying she was the "only legitimate president." A bit like Ronaldo refusing to come off. For Man City nerds of the pre-oligarch era, it might be worth noting Kavelashvili’s only goal for the Citizens came on his debut in a Manchester derby in April 1996, a game they lost 3-2 at home to United after a late Ryan Giggs’ winner. Relatively speaking, City producing two striker heads-of-state in the Premier League era makes them a veritable conveyor belt of political talent. So, who’s next? Will Lee Bradbury make a run for Number 10? Could Rolando Bianchi depose Giorgia Meloni in Rome? Or could Shaun Goater defy the odds and become the premier of Bermuda?
When the dust finally settles on the new Gaelic Football rules, the opening weekend of their implementation will be a distant memory. What has become apparent early on is how important ball-playing goalkeepers will be to team’s chances later in summer. This is hardly new, but, when - as Maurice Brosnan reported from Castlebar on Saturday night - you have Rory Beggan finishing a match with 22 possessions (which is well above the norm), it looks like we are headed for an era where more and more outfield players will be converted into traditional shot-stoppers. In fact, shot-stopping will be a bonus. Kickouts, high fielding and ball playing will be far more valuable. An interesting development. Whether it’s a good one remains to be seen.
New year, new crazy golf story. This Wednesday morning at 2am on Sky Sports Golf you can tune in to watch New York Golf Club's take on The Bay - no, not in the Jimmy Bruen - but in the TGL (Tomorrow’s Golf League), the latest innovative venture designed to reinvigorate the game after the LIV disruptors raided the PGA Tour, and almost stripped it for parts. The league, led by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, will feature many of the big names from the PGA Tour between now and March, with a Tuesday slot designed not to interfere with the traditional tour schedule. Played live in front of 1,500 people in a custom-built arena, the game relies on virtual courses displayed on 20 metre screens. More worryingly, with players mic’d up, it could live or die on the quality of the banter between players, something golfers have been cringe-worthily bad at. Still, it’s new, fresh and - unlike a five-hour round on a Sunday night - fast. You can’t fault them for trying.
