Jack Grealish is FREE and back to his best at Everton
Free from Pep Guardiola’s perceived yolk and finally able to express himself once again, Grealish has put all the troubles he had at Man City behind him and taken to life at Everton like a large calved duck to water.
By Alex Roberts
It’s hard to define whether the 29-year-old’s £100 million move from Aston Villa was a success or an abject failure. The numbers aren’t great, 17 goals and 23 assists in his 157 games across all competitions would suggest it was the prior, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
In American sports terms, Jack Grealish is what’s known as a ‘glue guy’, a player who’s influence off the pitch is equal or greater than their impact on it. The loveable winger was one of the faces of the club whether he played or not, just ask Erling Haaland, a close friend of his, who recently posted on Snapchat “Jack De Bruyne does it again for Everton.”
From a sheer marketability perspective, he’s been one of the Premier League’s greatest assets over the past five years. Almost every interview he does will produce a little soundbite that will be shared and viewed by thousands across the globe.
This season has a lot riding on it for Everton. Leaving Goodison Park wasn’t easy, a beacon for thousands in a working-class part of north Liverpool, it will forever be remembered as one of English football’s great arenas, but one could see why the club decided to move on.
The club needed to get the new £800 million Hill Dickinson Stadium right, and from what we’ve seen so far, they’ve absolutely nailed it. A ground like that deserved a marquee signing, and Grealish is just that.
It may only be a loan with an option to buy for £50 million, but securing Grealish’s services should be considered a major coup for Everton, especially in arguably the club’s most exciting season on and off the pitch since the Premier League’s inception.
Grealish decided to pick the number 18 shirt, once worn by Wayne Rooney and his very own boyhood hero, Paul Gascoigne.
“There were other numbers, but my two favourite English players ever are Wayne Rooney and Paul Gascoigne and I know they both wore number 18 here,” Grealish told Everton’s in-house media team.
“I spoke to Wayne before I came here, and I mentioned that to him — about the number 18 — so I hope he’s happy as well!”
And just like that, he’s almost immediately endeared himself to the fans. It’s going to take a little more time than a couple of weeks to gauge just how many Grealish 18 shirts the club has sold but expect it to be significant.
How he does on the pitch rather than off it was always going to be the riskier part of this deal, in 2024-25 he made just seven league starts and took until April to end a 16-month goal drought, so he could be forgiven for been a little rusty.
During his time at City, Grealish was stifled, nothing more than a cog in a bigger machine that wasn’t allowed to flex his creative muscles. Throughout his limited Premier League chances last season, he had a 91% pass success rate but created just 24 chances.
That would suggest he didn’t take enough risks, playing the ball backwards and sideways rather than picking that line splitting pass. He also made a negligible 13 successful dribbles, stifling what is by far the best part of his game.
Two games is a small sample size, but it’s already starting to look like David Moyes is utilising him the way he should be. Aside from the obvious stat, which is his four assists in three Premier League games, one less that he managed for the entirety of last season, the numbers are looking up.
Grealish has already created five chances and had six successful dribbles, in layman’s terms, he’s getting on the ball, running at opposition defenders, and affecting the game in the final third in a much more constructive way.
Last season, once Moyes returned, Everton’s biggest issue was sticking the ball in the back of the net. Only the relegated three scored fewer goals and that is largely because they only had one creative outlet, Dwight McNeill.
McNeill picked up a serious knee injury during Everton’s 4-0 Premier League win over Wolves in early December, missed five months, and still ended the season as the club’s leading goal contributor with ten.
That has wholeheartedly been addressed this summer, not just with the signing of Grealish, but also with the arrival of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Chelsea. Add Iliman Ndiaye to the mix, Everton now have a multifaceted attack that can give the best defences in league a real problem.
Providing the assist for the first goal scored at the new stadium, scored by Ndiaye, has put the Grealish name in the club’s history books, while the picture of him celebrating with the away fans after the 3-2 win over Wolves shows just how much he already means to them.
Now that things are starting to click at club level, Grealish will doubtless have his eye on a place in Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad. He did manage to find some solace while with England last season, scoring in the 2-0 UEFA Nations League win over the Republic of Ireland.
Tuchel’s most recent selection appeared to come a little too soon for Grealish, with the likes of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Gordon, and Morgan Rogers ahead of him. None of those players are guaranteed starters, however.
There is still a lot of football to be played between now and when the World Cup kicks off at the famous Estadio Azteca on June 11. If he keeps up his form, Grealish may well have completed one of the greatest career comebacks in English football history.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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