Manchester City’s Jack Grealish has claimed that he didn’t score enough goals at Aston Villa while he was playing for his boyhood club in the Premier League amid criticism about his output under Pep Guardiola. The England international has only scored four goals in 29 Premier League appearances for City since joining the club in a record breaking £100million transfer from Villa last year. His latest strike came in the 3-0 win over Wolves at Molineux this afternoon in the first minute of the game.
Jack Grealish said: “It was a long time coming, I haven’t scored since West Ham at the back end of last season. It was nice to get off the mark for this season and to do so early, get the three points against a top team. I think they are so underrated this Wolves team and they showed it at points in the second half. It’s a great result for us. I should be scoring and getting more assists. The only thing I can do is score and get assists. I’m always going to have people talking about me with the amount I got bought for. If you look at my whole career, I probably haven’t scored as much as certain people, even when I was at Aston Villa I only scored 14 or 15 goals over the two seasons in the Premier League. It’s something I do want to add to my game and playing with this team and in front of these fans, hopefully I can.”
City boss Pep Guardiola has defended Grealish’s lack of output since his move to the Etihad and claims he shouldn’t be judged on goals.
Pep Guardiola said: “I want him to make goals and assists and he does too but it’s not about that. It’s about his contribution without the ball and what he can produce for the other ones. We didn’t sign him for the incredible goals or assists at Aston Villa. It was for another reason. He competes with top, top players as well and he knows it perfectly. He never complains about that. He’s such a nice guy and in the games when he didn’t play, he’s the first to help the team and in the training sessions he’s always there. I’m delighted with his behaviour and everything.”
