Pep Guardiola furious with England in Jack Grealish club-vs-country row

Forward has been included in Carsley’s England squad despite having trained for the first in 17 days on Friday

Pep Guardiola is on a collision course with Lee Carsley after a bitter club-vs-country row broke out over the caretaker England manager’s decision to call up Jack Grealish.
Grealish has been included in England’s squad to face Greece on Thursday and Ireland three days later in the Nations League despite not playing for Manchester City for almost three weeks owing to a hamstring problem.
Guardiola insisted on Friday that Grealish would not be fit enough to face Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday as the City manager refuted Carsley’s claims that the midfielder had been back in training for two days.
Struggling to conceal his anger at the situation and revealing that Carsley had not called him to discuss Grealish’s fitness, the City manager said: “His [Carsley’s] decision. Seventeen days – [Grealish] didn’t train once. Today the first training and trained 20 minutes. This is the reality.”
Carsley had claimed Grealish had “trained in the last couple of days so he’ll come in, we’ll assess him and make sure he’s ready to play” but Guardiola – who refused to refer to Carsley by his name – aimed a small amount of gym work did not constitute two days’ worth of training.
“He was in the gym for a few minutes, yes, the last two days,” the City manager countered. “It’s a question for the manager from the UK. I’m not involved. They can select who they want. All I’d say is the day after Wolves, he was injured – 17 days out and today was the first training with the team.
“I’m not the guy to say: ‘You cannot go.’ But for my team tomorrow he’s not fit – he cannot play. All I can say is that for a couple of days over two weeks he didn’t train but the people from England believe he can help. So go.”
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Carsley said England had been “fully in contact with the medical staff” at City to which Guardiola – quietly simmering with indignation – responded: “They [City’s medical team] haven’t told me they spoke.”
Asked if some training and or playing time with England during the international break could aid Grealish’s return to full fitness, Guardiola added: “Maybe. I don’t know. The manager from the UK will know better than me.”
Guardiola said he had spoken to Grealish about the matter and that the player had expressed a desire to join up with the squad, a decision the City manager said did not surprise him. Asked what Grealish said, Guardiola replied: “‘I want to go to the national team’.”
The Grealish episode is not Guardiola’s first run in with England over one of his players this year. Guardiola revealed last month that he had “never been so angry” as when John Stones was injured during England’s friendly against Belgium in March, after which the defender only started one more Premier League game that season.
He also said last month that dialogue with Gareth Southgate, the former England manager, had tailed off and that it was commonplace for national team managers nowadays to communicate less with their club counterparts.
Addressing the Grealish issue, Guardiola said he did not have a problem releasing players who were fit but takes umbrage when they are not and still called up.
“National teams – always they play in this period and I’m always pleased for players to go – when they are fit and they haven’t struggled for the last one, two, three, four weeks. I’m more than satisfied for them to play. They love to play with their national teams. When they are fit and don’t struggle in the last month. I have the opinion they have to recover.
“He [Grealish] had two or three setbacks – in terms of injuries – and could not get his rhythm.”
Meanwhile, Guardiola has said he does not have any plans to go to Abu Dhabi during the international break to discuss his future with the City hierarchy and refused to disclose when he expects to make a decision. Guardiola signed his last two contract extensions in November 2020 and November 2022.