Jack Grealish joined Everton on loan from Manchester City during the summer transfer window – but it remains to be seen what will happen next
Jack Grealish
Jack Grealish (Image: (Lewis Storey/Getty Images))
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Everton have been warned that Jack Grealish's Manchester City career is far from over now that Pep Guardiola is leaving. Guardiola’s departure from City was confirmed on Friday morning, ending a 10-year spell in charge of the Etihad club.
The 55-year-old has won 20 trophies with City, including six Premier League titles and a Champions League crown. While Grealish moved to Everton on a temporary basis during the summer transfer window after falling out of favour with Guardiola at City.
But the England international saw his campaign cut short in January after he suffered a stress fracture in his foot, which required an operation.
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The Blues committed to an outlay of about £12m to cover the majority of Grealish’s wages when bringing him to the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
A £50m option to buy was included in the loan agreement by City, but that valuation was placed upon him for accounting purposes.
And the ECHO understands that the ambition for Everton is to extend Grealish’s stay into a second season, preferably on loan, and the plan is to formally explore that at the end of the current campaign.
But Paul Lambert, who gave Grealish his debut at Aston Villa, believes the 30-year-old’s future is now uncertain as Enzo Maresca, who is expected to replace Guardiola, could well want to keep Grealish at City.
Jack Grealish and Pep Guardiola
Jack Grealish and Pep Guardiola (Image: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
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“Jack Grealish will go back to Manchester City and maybe the new manager wants him as part of his plans, that could be a route back for him,” he said via Casinostugan.
“But when he was playing at Everton, he was great. He gave everybody a lift there, and obviously then he had his injury, which was unfortunate.
“But he's a Manchester City player right now. Now Pep Guardiola is going, then his future is up in the air. He could stay there or move on, but what he did at Everton certainly showed he was comfortable there.”
Grealish was filmed singing 'one more year' with supporters at Everton’s end-of-the-season awards bash on Thursday night, and he is believed to want to remain at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
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And speaking about Grealish on Friday, Blue boss Moyes said: "We've looked after Jack since his injury and his injury is coming on.
"He had quite a bad break in his foot, which has been pinned and it's looking in good order now. The surgeon has been speaking very well about it and thinks it's healing greatly.
“Normally a player would go back to their parent club [when injured] and be looked after from there, but we'll continue doing our best for Jack."
Before he added: "We've got two players on loan, and, obviously, at the moment, they go back to their clubs and we'll take it from there.
“As the summer goes on, we'll decide what path we're going to take on both of them. We like Tyrique (George), obviously we like Jack a lot – but we've not got an answer [yet].
"We've enjoyed having Tyrique here – he's been an excellent boy and his work rate and everything has been excellent, so we're happy with him."