Everton have agreed a deal to take Jack Grealish on loan from Manchester City.
The deal still needs to be finalised but a medical is being scheduled today for the England international. An option to buy in the region of £50milllion ($67.3m) will be included.
The Athletic reported on August 6 that Everton had opened talks with City over a move for the 29-year-old, whose contract at the Etihad Stadium expires in 2027.
Grealish made only 16 starts in all competitions last season and just seven in the Premier League. He was left out of the City squad for their final game of the Premier League season against Fulham — which manager Pep Guardiola described as “nothing personal” — and was not included in the squad that travelled to the United States for this summer’s Club World Cup. Phil Foden, Savinho, Jeremy Doku, Kevin De Bruyne, Omar Marmoush and Bernardo Silva have often been preferred to Grealish in City’s front line.
After coming through the academy at Aston Villa and becoming club captain in 2019, Grealish joined City for a club record fee of £100million, also a record amount for a British player. He signed a six-year deal and has made 157 appearances for the club, scoring 17 goals and providing 23 assists.
Grealish has won the Premier League three times with City, as well as the Champions League, FA Cup and the Club World Cup. He was an integral part of the team in the 2022-23 campaign, making 50 appearances as City won the treble, starting every knockout game in the Champions League.
Guardiola had previously expressed a desire to see Grealish return to the level that she showed during that campaign. “Do I want the Jack that won the treble? Yeah, I want it, but I try to be honest with myself,” the Spaniard said in January.
“I fought a lot for him, fought a lot to be here. I know that he can do it because I saw him. I saw his level and I want that, every single training session and every single game.”
A deal for Grealish would see him become Everton’s fifth new arrival of the summer, with Thierno Barry, Mark Travers, Adam Aznou and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall moving from Villareal, Bournemouth, Bayern Munich and Chelsea respectively. Carlos Alcaraz also joined the club permanently after his loan spell at Goodison Park last season.
‘Grealish could be a talisman – but not a signing without risk’
Analysis by Everton correspondent Patrick Boyland
Grealish would be a marquee signing, and one that would excite most Everton fans. The Merseyside team had the fourth-best defensive record in the Premier League last season, but have long lacked a game-changer in attack.
At his best, Grealish could be that player; a catalyst to drive the side on, and a talisman as Everton head into a new era in their 52,769-capacity Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Grealish is expected to be the main man in David Moyes’ side, dictating play both from the centre and the left. In that sense, it will be intriguing to see how it all knits together.
Iliman Ndiaye, Everton’s most productive attacker last season, works in similar areas, while new £25million signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall lined up in the No 10 role at the weekend against Roma. Everton also still need to address the lack of pace and goal threat on the right flank.
Dewsbury-Hall arrived from Chelsea earlier this month (Francois Nel/Getty Images)
With Everton expected to pay a sizeable chunk of Grealish’s £300,000-a-week wages, this is a costly signing not without an element of risk. One that may well define the early part of The Friedkin Group’s (TFG) tenure.
The total package, comfortably in excess of £10m, could end up looking like a bargain if the former Villa man returns to the levels of old and catapults the side up the table.
But there are, of course, no guarantees. Grealish spent last season on the periphery at City and needs minutes if he is to have a chance of reviving his fortunes and making the World Cup with England next summer.
Whatever happens from here, American owner TFG has shown it will put its hand in the pocket and that the years of austerity at Everton are over. It will be fascinating to see how it all works out.
(Top photo: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
