Premier League Inverted Wingers – Are they here to stay?

“I’m a bit biased,” Giggs said. “I was a winger who loved to achieve things and impress the fans.

“Mr. Alex [Ferguson] “Give the man who works in the factory something to smile about,” he would say.

“I loved passing it forward, running and trying to pass a difficult ball with the outside of my foot knowing the coach wasn’t necessarily going to target me.”

While the current generation is highly skilled and technical, the criticism is that their individuality has been taken away by micro-management, in an era where every position change is detailed, and coaches are a constant presence on the sidelines telling players where to go.

Grealish’s experience is often cited as an example – a player who arrived at Manchester City from Aston Villa in 2021 as a British record signing, capable of the kind of magic that Giggs possesses, but then had his ‘casual’ style thrown out by Pep Guardiola’s takeover request.

Giggs added: “You don’t like to go back to your time, but it seems a bit suffocating with players of a certain quality.”

“There are some, like Josh King at Fulham, and Martin Odegaard, who get me excited too, so not everyone but yeah, since I first started, I think it’s become a bit more mechanical, with playing patterns and teams being more defensive-minded.”

Since playing the traditional wing seems like a dying art, it looks like the inverted wing is going to be around for a while.