He’s nothing like Modric as a playmaker and I’d argue while he’s a good dribbler Modric’s ability both on and off the ball is/was better.
Grealish for me is not really suited to CM long term unless he makes significant improvements to his mid-long passing and his awareness of ball retention scenarios.
I’m not saying he couldn’t do it with the right coaching but at this point so much of his game is about him on the ball being centre of attention in the attacks I’ve yet to see him put in a traditional midfield maestro kind of performance. James Maddison is closer to being a CM playmaker than him IMO.
Grealish has the ability to be a special midfielder with his agility if he’s turned into a full time CM, but I have no idea if he’s mentally capable or if always drawing fouls as your method of escaping situations would work that deep or occasionally lead to counter attacks.
I don’t think he’s gonna be Modric at all but that sort of mobile ball player as opposed to his partner like Kroos who I would compare more to Maddison.
If we’re hoping Grealish becomes a star midfielder I would say it’s more in the way Giggs eventually did, by being too quick and clever for 99% of opposing central midfields to handle, but at time susceptible to great midfield opponents with more nous.
Maddison has the ability to contribute in attacking play without leaving his position as he’s a better passer, so could be played in a 2 man midfield without killing his team like Cesc did for Arsenal and Chelsea. I’d also prefer him behind a front 3 like Sneijder did for Inter or Ozil for Madrid just from pure playmaking alone.
My guess is De Bruyne leaves City at some point in the next few years and they sign Maddison, while Grealish goes to Everton (Sigurdsson is washed) or Leicester (he’d start at LW, be their 2nd best front 3 player after Vardy immediately, ahead of Barnes’ potential or Perez being pretty good, and he could replace Maddison when he leaves).
If Pogba goes though, I could absolutely see us signing Grealish and him getting games in tons of places:
-LCM in a typical Barca/Ajax/Pep triangle Grealish next to Bruno and ahead of the new DM/Fred/McTominay.
That type of midfield apparently seems too defensively weak for many on here but you gotta score goals and dominate and while Liverpool do it with a system and runners and maybe doping, we might not have the manager or fullbacks to instead provide creativity for that. Shaw-Fred-McTominay-WanBissaka just isn’t a lot of passing quality for the 4-7 spots on the field behind a front 3, especially if we’re playing 3 forwards, but we could upgrade at one fullback spot and make it work with a quality backup for Bruno as he would have a massive creative burden and need cover and rest.
-LW and we play 4 across with James on the right and 2 forwards, or just 4-3-3 with Fred, Bruno and DM and Grealisha our left and 2 of Martial, Rashford and Greenwood up top and out right (presumably Martial not out right but any other permutation).
-He could play as a false 9. Hungry to get involved and nimble are good qualities for that role and Greenwood as a goal scoring RW who doesn’t come deep much to get the ball might be our best attacker sooner than we realize, as his numbers so far and his hype do suggest a Kane or Shearer level forward. If he’s a Salah/Cristiano type, it could go either way as to if he plays better with a Firmino (Grealish) or Benzema (Martial) type centrally.
-All of Bruno’s backup minutes
️
