Pep Guardiola will not close door on Jack Grealish’s Man City career

Pep Guardiola has left the door open for Jack Grealish to return to Manchester City.

The England international has made a big impact at Everton since joining the Merseyside club on a season-long loan from City in August.

The 30-year-old playmaker had fallen down the pecking order at the Etihad Stadium.

Guardiola does not have to find a way to contain Grealish when the clubs meet in the Premier League on Saturday, as he cannot play against his parent club, but his form has not gone unnoticed.

City manager Guardiola said: “I think he has a contract for one more year with us.

“The important thing is he is back. He is a massive influence in the Everton games. After what’s happened, maybe Manchester City want him back, but I don’t know.

“Many things are still going to happen. We’ll see.

“The important thing is he is playing again, a lot of minutes. This is the standard. I’m happy, really, honestly, that he’s back in, trying his best.”

Another player Guardiola is pleased he does not have to stop is Erling Haaland, whom he feels is in the best shape of his career.

The prolific striker has scored a remarkable 21 goals in just 12 appearances for City or Norway this season.

Among his feats are a five-goal haul against Moldova in September and a hat-trick against Israel last weekend that have put Norway on the brink of World Cup qualification for the first time since 1998.

In nine outings for City, the loss to Tottenham in September is the only one in which he failed to find the net.

His 12 goals for City this term have taken the 25-year-old’s overall tally for the club to 136 since his move from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.

Guardiola joked he would need to put “four central defenders” on him if he was an opposition manager.

He added: “I had the pleasure of facing him when he was in Dortmund and hopefully I’m not going to face him again for the rest of my life.

“He’s a top-class player. In world football, there are four, five, six, 10 players who make the difference. I think he’s one of them. We have him, hopefully for many years, and are really pleased for that.”

Asked if he thinks this is the best Haaland has been, the Spaniard said: “I think it is.

“He feels really good and his performance levels, not just in terms of goals, but many things, are outstanding.”

Guardiola feels little need to man-manage Haaland at the moment and will only step in if he hits a bad spell.

He said: “What I’m saying is, (he’s) going to drop because it’s impossible to sustain that, (but) I will be there, we will be there.

“Always we have to sustain (each other) in bad moments. Now, he doesn’t need compliments and doesn’t need anything special.”