Football: Soccer-Manchester City can take Grealish to another level, says Guardiola

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MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Manchester City can take Jack Grealish to another level after the England midfielder’s Premier League record signing from Aston Villa, manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.

Grealish joined the English champions in a 100 million pounds ($139 million) deal announced on Thursday.

Guardiola described the versatile Grealish as an “incredibly huge talent” and said he could play him up front, mainly on the left side, or as a winger, attacking midfielder or striker.

“I don’t have any doubts that he will suit good in the way we play and his desire to become an exceptional player, or even better than he already is,” said the Spaniard.

“He arrives with incredibly positive things… he has some of the best years of his career after making an exceptional contribution at Aston Villa, because he did amazingly there.

“He can get to another level with us.”

Grealish will wear the number 10 shirt vacated by City’s long-serving striker Sergio Aguero, who has joined Barcelona.

Guardiola said City needed new players to stay fresh after so much success.

“When a team in the last four or five years won a lot, which we cannot deny, and we raise our level in Europe… we need new players. Not much, a few players that can rise to the level of the players that are already here,” he said.

“The new players can fight with the players who stay here for a long time, otherwise after winning a lot of titles it is difficult to continue to make a step forward. Every player has to have the pressure that maybe they are not going to play.”

($1 = 0.7201 pounds)

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ken Ferris)



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