The end of Pep Guardiola’s sparkling 10-year Manchester City reign could allow “maverick” Jack Grealish to reignite his Etihad Stadium career, according to former Leicester City winger Marc Albrighton.

In Hong Kong to play for Singapore Football Club Masters in this weekend’s HKFC Standard Chartered Soccer Sevens, Albrighton was a Villa teammate of Grealish’s before transferring in 2014 for a wildly successful stay with Leicester.

The 30-year-old Grealish, who has one year remaining on the deal he signed when City paid £100 million (US$134 million) to take him from Villa in 2021, steadily fell out of favour under Guardiola. Granted more freedom on loan with Everton this season, he began to recapture his form, only for a broken foot to cut him down in January.

“It will be a completely different ball game for him at City with a new manager,” Albrighton told the South China Morning Post. “I’m sure it’ll be a clean slate for everyone.

“He needs to keep working as hard as he has been and hopefully, he’ll really fulfil his potential there.”

Grealish had been sufficiently influential for Everton that he was being broadly talked up as a candidate for England’s World Cup squad.