Manchester City have agreed a deal to loan club record signing Jack Grealish to Everton for the season, reports Fabrizio Romano. While this is not technically the end, and it is possible he will return to City rejuvenated in 2026, I think it fair to say that this chapter of Grealish’s career is over; any remontada at City will surely be seen as a new beginning. So I feel it is the right time to have a look at Grealish’s four seasons at the club, and honestly assess what he contributed during a spell that included three Premier League titles and a treble.
🚨💣 EXCL: Jack Grealish to Everton, here we go! Loan deal agreed with Man City and medical booked later today.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 11, 2025
Grealish said yes to #EFC project and he’s now set to complete his move in next 24 hours.
New addition for David Moyes. 🔵🃏 pic.twitter.com/iP4e0rh7yb
Debut season
City signed Grealish in the summer of 2021 for a club record fee of £100m, having just reclaimed their Premier League title and making their first appearance in a Champions League final. The season he went on to have was decent; he made 26 league appearances, with 3 goals and 3 assists. These figures might seem underwhelming, but signings at Guardiola’s City tend to need a six months to a year to bed in and understand what the Catalan expects of them. Grealish also showed a great willingness to do whatever Guardiola asked him to; despite his transfer fee he never expected to be the main star of the team. Grealish has often been derided during his time at City for not taking his man on; not only do I think this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the player he was at Aston Villa, but it also misses that in recycling the ball and avoiding risks, Grealish was helping City to manipulate defences to that other players could find space to cross or shoot. All of this is to say, Grealish contributed a good deal more than what his 6 goals and assists might suggest.
Showing up to training hungover
Another, less positive sign we saw from Grealish that season was his life style. There is often a tendency to overanalyse athletes’ personal lives, and that is not what I am interested in doing at all. But the point where it bleeds into their conduct and performances is the point where I think it fairly becomes fans’ business. Late in December of 2021, Grealish and England teammate Phil Foden showed up to a recovery session following City’s 7-0 demolishing of Leeds clearly reeling from a late night out. Guardiola, who takes player recovery and health very seriously, was less than impressed with the pair. Too much gets said about things like this sometimes, but it is hard not to draw a line between Grealish’s pension for partying and some of what will come later.
Second Season
Grealish entered his second season at City with a great deal of expectation from the fan base. He had had his bedding in period, and now was the time for him to prove he was worth the money paid for him. The start of the season was not massively promising; he featured in only 10 of City’s 16 league games before the World Cup, finding only a single goal and no assists. There were still promising signs outside of his output, and there were good performances in that run, but he was still not living up to the record signing label. All of this changed when City returned at the end of December. Helped by the surprise exit of João Cancelo, which put Nathan Aké behind him and gave him more freedom to cut in and create things himself, Grealish but together an incredibly strong second half of the season.
Treble-Winning Contributions
In the league, Grealish scored 4 goals and assisted 7 in the second half of the season. These included scoring the winner at the Emirates, a crucial title game against then-leaders Arsenal, a goal and assist in a man of the match performance against Liverpool, coming off the bench to assist the winner against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, and scoring what might have been a derby-winner at Old Trafford were it not for the notorious non-offside call against Marcus Rashford. Adding to this, he assisted City’s winner against Arsenal en-route to the FA Cup, and put in very strong performances home and away against Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the Champions League. There is sometimes a tendency, looking back with what has happened since in mind, to downplay Grealish’s contribution during this season. I think this is ridiculous; any other player for any other team and nothing else they did would matter off the back of this six month run. Whatever you might say about Grealish’s time at City overall, he was one of the key figures in one of only two treble winning teams in the history of English football.
Jack Grealish in 2023 (so far):
— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) April 11, 2023
◾️ 19 Appearances
◾️ 4 Goals
◾️ 7 Assists
◾️ 119.2 Mins Per Goal Contrib.
𝗔 𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗜𝗡 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠. 😍💙pic.twitter.com/S7iMdMckIl
Going out quietly
I think the two seasons that followed can be grouped together. He made 20 appearances in the league in both, but never really found form, dealing with injuries and personal life problems across the two years. He had moments, such as creating City’s last minute equaliser against Arsenal last season, but every time it has felt like he was picking up form and returning to the player he became during the treble run-in, something happened that took him out for just a few games and his momentum was quashed. That is what has killed his career at City; not poor performances, but an inability to be available long enough to play himself into form. If just one of the last two seasons saw him consistently available, there is no doubt in my mind that he would still be in a City shirt this season. But, especially off the back of last year, where a lack of availability played a massive part in City losing their title, keeping Grealish unfortunately just isn’t a risk the club can take.
Conclusion
I would like to finish with a somewhat bold claim, but I think it is one that is justified by the evidence; Jack Grealish never had a bad season at City. Injury-marred seasons are not considered ‘bad’ for any other footballer, they are seen as unfortunate and frustrating but not really ‘bad.’ That is not to say that Grealish deserved more time, or that all the frustration with him was unjustified. But I think it is important to keep some perspective on his time at City. He was at times a brilliant player, and always no matter what gave his all for the badge when he was on the field. He was immensely selfless, never demanding that the team revolve around him, and was happy to facilitate City’s other stars. So I, like the majority of City fans, wish him luck in getting his career back on track.
