Roy Keane has backed Jack Grealish to improve from a difficult first season at Manchester City but Graeme Souness thinks it might be too late.
The Premier Leagueās record signing had a tricky debut campaign at the Etihad managing only three goals and three assists in the 22 games he started.
The Ā£100million man acknowledged his struggles after leaving boyhood club Aston Villa last summer, and former Villa assistant Keane also expected more from the attacker.
However, he thinks thatās far from the end of the story with the Man United legend empathising with Grealishās lack of game time.
āWeāll try and give Jack the benefit of the doubt,ā he said. āWe were talking about his age earlier, heās what 26 ā 27, now.Ā
āWeāre thinking maybe he should have gone to City and maybe adapted a bit quicker but sometimes it can be difficult.Ā
āHeās gone in and not really had the run of games, he had one or two injuries earlier in the season, he would have been disappointed even in the last game being left out against his old club Aston Villa but they got over the line.
āYouād fully expect Jack to have adapted more to the demands of Man City and of Pep [Guardiola], I think Pep certainly would have been intense with him and maybe Jack wasnāt quite used to that.Ā
āWeāve seen him being left out of big games for City and Gareth [Southgate] has done the same with England.Ā
āThe penny has to drop with Jack, if you want to be a real top player youāve got to step up to the plate a bit more and the managerās got to have a bit of trust with him.
āAgain fine lines, with Jack, an attacking player, we saw Jack in the Real Madrid game he had one or two chances.Ā
āBut this will define a player, these moments, can you put the ball in the back of the net and get your team into the final? And thatās where Jack has just come up short, but I wouldnāt be writing him off just yet.ā
Keaneās punditry colleague wasnāt in agreement though, citing Grealishās age as an issue.
He explained: āIām not sure, I think Jack is 26 ā 27 in September, 27, not 21 ā 27.Ā
āThis is the way I was educated, ātoo many touches sonā, if youāre taking too many touches youāre not seeing the picture quick enough I think that would be Jackās story.Ā
āThe most fouled player in the league, two consecutive years when he was at Villa, that again is not a good sign for me.
āIāll put it another way, heās not a quick learner, all the top players are quick learners, Jackās had a year and for me heās not improved.ā
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