Jack Grealish Returns to Everton: A Familiar Face in New Attack
Jack Grealish is going back to Hill Dickinson Stadium. Back to Everton. Back to a crowd that already knows his name and his game.
On a frantic final stretch of the transfer window, with phones ringing and deals collapsing by the hour, Everton have turned to the most familiar of solutions: the winger who lit up their left flank last season. Grealish returns on a season-long loan from Manchester City, with his medical booked for Tuesday morning and the paperwork racing the deadline.
Ndiaye out, Grealish back in
This move starts with a loss. Iliman Ndiaye is heading the other way, to Manchester City, in a deal worth up to $88 million (£65 million). That sale left David Moyes short of creativity and end product at the top end of the pitch. He needed a replacement, and he needed one fast.
So Everton went straight back to the source that had just taken Ndiaye away. Within hours, talks opened with City over Grealish. No scouting missions. No long lists. They knew exactly who they wanted.
The 30-year-old England international had already done enough in royal blue to make this an easy call. Last season, on loan under Moyes, he produced two goals and six assists in 22 appearances before a stress fracture in his foot cut him down in January. The numbers only tell part of it. His swagger on the ball, his willingness to graft, the way he embraced the club and the city — all of it turned him into a genuine fan favourite.
Even after he returned to Manchester for treatment and rehabilitation, Everton never really let the line go slack. They stayed in touch throughout the summer, aware that Sunderland and Aston Villa were circling, and ready to move if the door opened. It finally has. A deal is agreed in principle, with only the medical and formalities left before the deadline slams shut on Tuesday night.
A financial swing that shows Everton’s intent
The numbers behind the move underline how badly Everton want him back.
They are set to cover around 90% of Grealish’s wages, a huge outlay given he earns close to $405,000 (£300,000) a week. There is no loan fee on top, but that wage commitment alone is a statement from a club trying to reshape its attack without drifting into half-measures.
Built into the agreement is an option to buy next summer for $67.5 million (£50 million), just as his City contract runs out. For City, it clears space in a bloated squad and eases a wage bill still carrying the weight of a British-record transfer fee. They paid $135 million (£100 million) to take him from Aston Villa in 2021, and he has left with medals and memories from his time under Pep Guardiola. But his minutes have shrunk in recent seasons, squeezed by competition and tactical tweaks.
A permanent move this summer always looked complicated. His salary, his status, the timing of his contract — all of it made a clean break difficult. This second loan to Everton offers a compromise that suits everyone: City get clarity, Everton get their man, and Grealish gets what he has been missing most — regular football.
What Grealish gives Everton this time
At his peak, Grealish is a nightmare for full-backs. He carries the ball at speed, rides challenges, draws fouls, and pulls defensive blocks out of shape. He forces teams to make choices they do not want to make.
His first spell at Everton proved he still has that edge away from the Etihad. He linked play, drove at defenders, and brought a spark that fed off the energy in the stands. Supporters responded not just to the stepovers and surges, but to the work rate and personality he showed in a side that demanded both.
The foot injury in January was a jolt, a sudden halt to a season that felt like it was building towards something. But he has recovered, returned to City’s matchday squads, and already featured briefly this season. Now he walks back into a dressing room that knows what he can do and a manager who has already built a system around his strengths.
Everton are not just slotting him into last year’s blueprint, though. The attack is being rebuilt at pace. A deal worth more than $54 million (£40 million) has been agreed for USMNT striker Folarin Balogun from Monaco, while Beto heads to Fiorentina for $23 million (£17 million). The forward line that starts this season will look very different to the one that began the last.
In that shifting landscape, Grealish becomes the bridge — a familiar face in a new-look front line, a player who already understands the demands and the expectations.
The stakes of a second act
Because Grealish is out of contract next summer, this loan is more than a short-term fix. If it clicks, Everton can turn it into a permanent move for $67.5 million (£50 million). If it doesn’t, both parties walk away, City finally close the chapter, and Grealish tests the market as a free agent.
For now, everything hinges on the next 24 hours: the medical, the signatures, the registration before the window shuts. City will press on with their own evolution. Everton will welcome back a player who never really stopped feeling like one of theirs.
And Grealish? He gets another chance to prove that, away from the shadows of a stacked City squad, he can still be the main event rather than a luxury option.
