“He needs to get out there and play for West Ham, being left out of the Club World Cup squad says it all, the message is clear his time at Man City is over”- Cole told talkSPORT as he urged £100m Man to give up £300k-a-week contract for Hammers switch
Jack Grealish: A Modern-Day Joe Cole or a Misfit in the Modern Game?
Jack Grealish, Manchester City’s £100 million enigma, increasingly resembles a modern-day Joe Cole post-West Ham—a gifted maverick tamed by the structure of top-level football. Once a dazzling, free-spirited talent, Grealish now finds himself boxed into a system that prizes discipline over flair.
Comparisons to Cole are fitting. While some argue Jose Mourinho curtailed Cole’s expressive style at Chelsea, the reality is more nuanced. Cole still played nearly 300 games for the Blues, winning seven trophies and scoring 39 goals.
But for those who believed he’d become the 2000s’ Paul Gascoigne, questions remain about what he might have achieved had he stayed loyal to West Ham’s more accommodating environment.
Two decades later, a similar lament surrounds Grealish. Once a Premier League darling in Aston Villa’s claret and blue, his time at Manchester City has seen him transformed from swashbuckling showman to a cog in Pep Guardiola’s well-oiled machine.
His recent exclusion from City’s Club World Cup squad felt like the final nail in the coffin of his Etihad journey.
Now, speculation mounts about his next move. With a hefty £300,000-a-week contract and a price tag that makes him the second-most expensive British footballer (after Declan Rice), Grealish’s future is uncertain.
Former West Ham striker Carlton Cole has joined the chorus calling for Grealish to return to a club where he can thrive. Speaking on talkSPORT, Cole said:
“He’s not in the Club World Cup squad – that tells you everything. It’s over. He’s got to play football again. Italy, Spain… maybe. But he’s a bit of a homeboy. Come to West Ham, mate!”
Stan Collymore has suggested former Chelsea manager Graham Potter might be the man to reignite Grealish’s spark, while Cole dreams of seeing the winger back in claret and blue, perhaps even at Napoli with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Billy Gilmour.
But not every club seems a fit. Newcastle United, for example, were mentioned as a possible destination. Cole disagreed:
“They’ve got Anthony Gordon, and their team is too rigid. Grealish needs a system built around him. He had that freedom at Villa. At City, he became a ‘percentage player’—winning fouls, drawing free-kicks. He’s better than that.”
Cole believes Grealish is the last of a dying breed—an expressive player in an era dominated by tactical precision. He worries the Premier League may no longer suit someone of Grealish’s free-spirited style:
“I want him to be free again. He’s a maverick, he excites fans. Maybe he needs to go to a league where he can be himself.”
With the possible exits of Lucas Paquetá and Mohammed Kudus looming, West Ham could soon be in the market for a new creative midfielder.
Hammers legend Stuart Pearce has even expressed interest in Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott, suggesting a changing of the guard—and potentially a new home for Jack Grealish.
