Pack your bags, Jack Grealish! FA Cup final snub should be last straw - England winger must leave Man City ASAP to salvage what's left of his career

Grealish has had a dismal season, but the one thing that had kept him motivated was the FA Cup. He had played in all of City's games in their run to the showpiece event, starting four out of five games and playing key roles against admittedly lower-league opposition in Salford City and Leyton Orient. He had previously stated that he was "devastated" to not start in the quarter-final tie at Bournemouth, although he did come off the bench to sew the comeback victory up. So one can only imagine what it felt like to not get on at all at Wembley.

Grealish has gotten used to seeing Savinho or Jeremy Doku picked ahead of him, and on Saturday both of them started at his expense. But as the minutes ticked by and City's need to score became ever more urgent, Guardiola threw on more attackers, only to continue ignoring his most expensive signing. The coach instead turned to Phil Foden andGundogan ahead of the England international, but most insulting for Grealish would have been the sight of 19-year-old Claudio Echeverri, who had never even been on the bench for City before, getting the nod over him.

As it turned out, Echeverri almost found and equaliser and Guardiola had no regrets at all about bringing on the Argentine. But what must Grealish have thought?

For England legend Alan Shearer, the snub should be the final straw for Grealish's City career. "His time is up at Man City, he has to leave," Shearer told The Rest is Football podcast. "For him (Guardiola) to bring a debutant on, a young boy, and Gundogan on when they're desperate for a goal rather than Jack Grealish... His time is up, he's done at Man City, he has to leave. For whatever reason, Pep's done with him, he doesn't like him. His time is up, it really is."

Grealish would already have been well aware of how his stock has fallen at City. He has started only seven Premier League games all season, playing a total of 715 minutes. That is his lowest amount of league minutes since 2013-14, when he was 18 years old and just breaking into the Aston Villa team.

He has not been able to make the most of his little time on the pitch, either this season or last, having scored just four league goals and provided two assists in the last two campaigns. Grealish has been vocal about the fact that he does not need goals or assists to play well, and it is true that he was a crucial part of City's treble-winning team only two years ago despite only contributing to 13 goals that season. But it feels like he has sacrificed his entire game to please Guardiola, and it has all been for nothing.

"I feel as though Jack's played within himself," said Grealish's former Villa team-mate and close friend Micah Richards, who also felt the winger had "played it too safe" under Guardiola. He added: "If he'd gone there and been losing the ball because he'd tried to take people on, making the wrong pass or whatever... But I don't feel like we've seen the real Jack Grealish."

Guardiola and Grealish always felt like a strange collaboration as the winger looked like the ultimate individual player when he was at Villa. It took Grealish more than a year to bed into Guardiola's system and understand the Catalan's way of working, but it all paid off as Grealish helped City finally win the Champions League and complete the treble. His role in the celebrations remains the stuff of legend, his "hang it in the Louvre" social media post and "feed the turkey" antics as memorable as Rodri's decisive strike in the final against Inter.

But his reward for adapting his game to suit his coach was to see Doku brought in that summer, with the Belgian given a licence to cause havoc down the wing and terrorise defenders in a way that Grealish was never allowed to. Savinho and the returning Gundogan, meanwhile, brought more competition for Grealish this season.

Guardiola has argued that Grealish has simply not been up to the challenge. He brutally said Savinho was in "better shape" than Grealish in January, adding: "He has to compete with himself. I want the Jack that won the treble. But I try to be honest with myself for that. But you have to prove, [to say] 'I'm going to fight with Savinho, to deserve to play in that position'. And every single day, and every single week and every single month."

In February, he repeated his stance: "I'm so sorry he doesn't get the minutes that maybe he deserves. But [in] the end, the contributions from Jeremy or Savinho have been massive this season, this is the only reason why. It's not personal, or [that] I don't like Jack, or I don't have confidence in him."

But the thing about Guardiola is he doesn't usually change his mind and give players much of a chance to change the narrative. Just look at his treatment of Joao Cancelo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Kalvin Phillips. It could be argued that Guardiola has given Grealish more chances than he gave the others; he held stern talks with the player last summer in private and had even promised "Jack will be back" in public. But Grealish's revival never came, and it's time for both parties to cut their losses.

Grealish has one year left on his contract with City and he is within his rights to see it out and get his final pay cheque. Given how his career has gone downhill in the last two years, there will be few clubs willing to allow him to command the same salary as he currently does.

But Grealish needs to choose saving his career over maintaining his wages. It would be a terrible waste to see him follow in the footsteps of Gareth Bale and his last few years at Real Madrid, the Welsh star hardly played but stayed on just for the sake of earning his money.

Grealish turns 30 next September and he still has plenty to fight for at club and international level. He lost his England place during the March international break, but Thomas Tuchel has shown a willingness to give experienced players another chance, having recalled Marcus Rashford and Jordan Henderson after their Three Lions careers looked to be finished.

Rashford is a good example to follow. The forward left a Manchester club where he no longer felt loved, but has reminded everyone of his quality while on loan at Aston Villa. So too has Marco Asensio, who is the same age as Grealish. A return to his boyhood club would be a dream scenario for Grealish, and Unai Emery has shown himself to be an expert at revitalising flagging careers.

But Grealish does not necessarily need to stay in England to get back into Tuchel's squad. The German keeps a close eye on football across the continent, and if Grealish were to move to Spain or Italy and do well, then there is no reason why he could not get back into the fold.

There has even been talk of Grealish heading to MLS, where he would be able to command a big salary as a Designated Player and he could take advantage of the huge commercial opportunities in the United States. Grealish's interactions with U.S. fans on last season's pre-season tour indicate that he could be a huge hit off the pitch over there.

But wherever he chooses to go, Grealish needs to get out of City and fast. There is still time for him to save his career, but only if he makes his peace with his disappointing spell at the club and leaves the Etihad Stadium once and for all.