Jack Grealish only had 25 minutes or so against United yesterday, but it was enough to remind Everton what he can bring.
The Everton supporters certainly enjoyed seeing him again. Grealish got a huge reception when he replaced Brennan Johnson after 66 minutes and soon settled back into familiar surroundings.
The Guardian picked out his cameo among its Premier League talking points on Monday, while Reuters noted the improvement in Everton’s attacking cohesion after he came on.
So where does Grealish fit?
That’s the interesting bit.
Moyes has already made it clear that Grealish isn’t fully fit. He has barely played for six months following his foot injury, so throwing him straight back into the starting XI would make little sense.
But there will come a point when he’s ready. Johnson started against United, while Tyrique George responded to being left out of the XI by coming off the bench and thumping in Everton’s first equaliser. Moyes now has three very different options competing for those attacking positions.
Grealish showed some of what he brings in his short appearance. He kept the ball, carried it and played some clever passes, all things Moyes mentioned afterwards.
It’s a very different picture to the one Everton faced during those horrible final days of the transfer window. The squad remains worryingly thin in places, as we’ve discussed loads, but out wide Moyes suddenly has choices.
And George scoring just makes the decision a little trickier.
Twenty-five minutes against United doesn’t tell us whether Grealish is ready to start at Tottenham next weekend. But if he gets anywhere near the form he showed before last season’s foot injury, Moyes will surely want him in the team.
Working out who makes way could be the difficult bit. But it’s a nice problem for Moyes to have.
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