Report: Manchester City star ‘not happy’ at place on bench and ‘leaves training early’

Pep Guardiola’s decision to bench Jack Grealish once again for the club’s trip to Brentford on Monday night was met with an intense reaction from the player.

Manchester City will be looking to maintain their hot run of form following their FIFA Club World Cup success with another victory in Premier League action as they look to cut the gap between themselves and Liverpool to two points.

Pep Guardiola’s side could move to the top of the Premier League table with wins over Brentford and Everton in the next week, although the west London side beat Manchester City twice last season, both at the Etihad Stadium and Gtech Community Stadium.

The Sky Blues have the opportunity to extend their current unbeaten streak to 12 matches on Monday night, with attacking pair Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland both starting for the first time since August.

De Bruyne will make just his third Premier League start of the campaign, meanwhile Haaland is handed a first start since a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa in early December.

Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez were also handed starts by Guardiola, with the 53-year-old making a number of changes to the side that beat Burnley 3-1 on Wednesday night.

The Manchester City manager’s team selection has reportedly caused some frustration within the first-team squad however, with forward Jack Grealish unhappy at being named on the bench for a fourth successive fixture.

According to the information of MCFCTone on X, Jack Grealish was left ‘not happy’ at being left on the substitutes bench for the trip to West London to face Brentford on Monday night, and subsequently left the club’s training session early.

The 28-year-old has not started for Manchester City since a 5-0 win over Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup third round in early January, although the Englishman featured as a substitute in last weeks win against Vincent Kompany’s Burnley.

Jack Grealish has made 18 starts for Manchester City so far this season, but has been an unused substitute on five occasions.