Liverpool legend Graeme Souness insists Jack Grealish is a 'good, not great' player and outlined reasons why he thinks the Man City forward is overrated.
Grealish opened his account for the 2022/23 season with a goal in the first minute during the 3-0 victory at Wolves on Saturday.
Grealish showed plenty of relief after scoring on Saturday
The England star has only notched five goals and three assists since his 2021 move from Aston Villa in a British-record £100million deal.
His strike at Molineux answered some of the questions around the 27-year-old's underwhelming numbers at City - and manager Pep Guardiola has spoken out in defence of his performances.
But Souness is still unconvinced, as Grealish prepares to link up with the Three Lions this week ahead of the World Cup in November.
The iconic midfielder argues Grealish has failed to improve since leaving Villa Park and not just because of his output in front of goal.
Souness believes Grealish takes too many touches and moves the ball too slowly because his vision is not yet on City's level.
"He is a good footballer. He is not a great player," Souness told talkSPORT.
Guardiola earlier defended Grealish's output
"He is a good player who got a big move and is yet to do it at Man City.
"I go back to the days at Villa and for two years he was the most fouled player in the Premier League.
"I see that two ways. You're having too many touches if you're the most fouled player. And the reason you're having too many touches is because you're not seeing the picture quickly enough.
"I understand why people think he is better than he actually is - because he runs with the ball and gets you on the edge of your seat.
Grealish will be pushing for a place in the England starting XI this winter
"But he doesn't deliver enough. He doesn't see the right picture and he doesn't deliver it quickly enough.
"If he was a star every week, we would not be having this type of conversation about him.
"I was willing to cut him some slack, because there is some kind of dribbling talent there.
"I look back on my own career and there was never a watershed moment where someone sat me down and told me how to get to the next level.
Souness gave a brutally honest opinion on Grealish
"I improved because I went to the best club in the wolrd at the time, Liverpool, who had some of the best players in Europe at the time.
"Every single day, I was being asked to think quicker and move the ball quicker, with everything at a faster tempo than I was used to.
"Fortunately, I was able to grasp that quite early on. I thought that would happen to Jack but it hasn't happened for him.
"I see the same Grealish I saw at Villa a few years ago."
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