Manchester City returned to pre-season training last week and midfielder Jack Grealish was spotted among the players who had reported for duty.
But any immediate hopes of seeing the 30-year-old donning a City shirt once more were dashed on Tuesday night when he missed out on a seat on the plane for the club’s tour of Hong Kong and Seoul over the next 11 days.
Sources have said Grealish continues to recuperate from a season-ending foot injury sustained in January during a loan spell at Everton, where he was starting to recapture his best form, and it is too early to speculate what the future might hold.
The injury ended not only his time at Hill Dickinson Stadium but an outside shout at playing at the World Cup for England too.
Having seemingly been discarded by former boss Pep Guardiola, Grealish now finds himself back at City as he enters the final 12 months of his contract with little sign of being offered new terms on his reported £300,000-a-week wages.
The former Aston Villa captain turns 31 in September and the key question is whether new boss Enzo Maresca will reintegrate him into the first-team set-up or be happy to sanction a move which will end his time at Etihad Stadium.
The Italian left the door open last week, saying: “At the moment, he is here. He is a Manchester City player. I always said the same. In any club I join, I like to know if there are players that belong to the club.
“It’s my duty to try to coach them. Jack is here. I have a good relationship with Jack since I left. Also, we keep in touch, and the reason why is because he has a big heart and he is a very good guy. So this is the reason why and then we see what happens.”
Maresca, though, will be concerned by apparent images of Grealish being pictured drinking in the afternoon twice in the past three months.
He was the face of City’s celebrations following their Treble triumph in 2023 but rejected claims of being a “party boy”, saying he was just “enjoying himself”.
Repeated images looking worse for wear will not help his cause and may put off any potential suitors.
Grealish has not kicked a football in competitive action since the start of the year, while compatriot Kalvin Phillips returns to the club too following an unsuccessful loan spell in the Championship at Sheffield United last season.
While still only 30 years old, Phillips’ career has nose dived since joining City from Leeds in 2022, playing just seven minutes of EFL Cup action for the club over the past two seasons.
There appears to be no way back after being excluded from the tour squad, with City seemingly open to offers for the player this summer.
The club have taken an unfamiliar-looking group of 28 players for their three friendly matches across the globe, with Erling Haaland, new signing Elliot Anderson, Rayan Cherki and Nico O’Reilly enjoying time off after their exploits at the World Cup.
Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, Phil Foden, Josko Gvardiol and Antoine Semenyo provide the experience to a group of players that contains a number from the elite development squad and with opportunities up for grabs.
City face Serie A champions Inter Milan in Maresca’s first game in-charge on Saturday, followed by matches against K-League All Stars and Atletico Madrid in Seoul next week.
As a new dawn begins for City in the Far East, Grealish will be watching on hoping the sun is not setting on his Blues career.