Everton and Manchester City both enjoyed promising ends to their Premier League campaigns
Manchester City and Everton are both hoping to be challenging up the Premier League table in 2025/26, though for different reasons, and a bumper swap deal would ignite both the summer transfer window for Pep Guardiola and David Moyes.
Moyes described Everton as a “broken family” when he returned to the club in the wake of Sean Dyche’s failed spell charged but now believes it’s healing ahead of their stadium move, while the poor run of form that took Manchester City out of the Premier League title race had Guardiola drawing blood from his own scalp in frustration.
Fast-forward to the end of the campaign and both sides would’ve both qualified for the Champions League if the season started in mid-January while City were the outright best team in the final 10 weeks of the Premier League.
And as they look to supercharge their 2025/26 chances, a blockbuster swap of Jarrad Branthwaite and Jack Grealish would ignite both sides’ transfer windows.
Jack Grealish to Everton is a couple everyone needs
Grealish’s £300,000-per-week wages are reportedly a stumbling block, but City are keen to make anything back on the 29-year-old and there’s plenty of incentive for the player himself to cut salary in the short term with the aim of prolonging his career.
Moyes has a strong track record of refining elite talent dating back to Wayne Rooney, and would surely get the best out of Grealish. He turned Iliman Ndiaye’s Everton career on its head after the Senegalese international had stagnated under Dyche, and Grealish should take note of that revival. Starting at the Club World Cup, Grealish has 12 months to prove to Thomas Tuchel that he deserves a place in England’s 2026 World Cup squad and Everton provide him with the chance to do exactly that.
Grealish burst onto the scene at Aston Villa as an action man attacker who could pop up anywhere in the final third, skin a handful of defenders and then fire past a helpless goalkeeper or set up a teammate for a tap-in, but that all changed under Pep Guardiola. The coaching legend has had Grealish hugging the flank for much of his Manchester City career, firing in crosses often to service Erling Haaland rather than allowing him to find space around the edge of the penalty area and wreak havoc as he does best.
That netted Grealish a Champions League winners medal that he’ll surely be grateful for, but the Brummie bombshell is now at a pivotal juncture at his career and must nail his next move to ensure he stays at the top level well into his 30s. He started for England as recently as October and his maverick style and ability to create a chance out of nowhere will always be hard to pass up for a coach picking a World Cup squad, where so many knockout games come down to one or two moments.
Finally, staying in the north-west of England would prevent Grealish uprooting his family who welcomed their first child last September, as all the indicators point to Everton provided he can sacrifice some salary. It would likely be well worth it.
Jack Grealish can seal the deal for Manchester City
Manchester City see Jarrad Branthwaite as their replacement to ex-Toffee John Stones who has become a sky blue great and won 15 trophies with Guardiola after leaving Goodison Park. Branthwaite is also a superb technician at centre-back without compromising on physicality or aerial prowess, so it’s no surprise that he was one of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s top targets at Manchester United.
But attracting players to Old Trafford right now is like selling suites on the Titanic post-iceberg, and Branthwaite wants to play in the Champions League which in addition could help him establish himself as one of the first names on Tuchel’s England teamsheet.
Everton have copied Crystal Palace’s homework in slapping a £75m price tag on their star defender which hasn’t deterred Liverpool from entering the race, so Grealish could be the edge that Manchester City need to beat the Reds to Branthwaite and at a reduced price.
Transfermarkt lists Grealish’s value at a meagre €35m (£29m) - a Trumpian market collapse from Grealish’s then-British record transfer fee to the Citizens - so the deal would likely need to involve some cash (around £25-45m) also flowing to the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
His list of suitors isn’t too long but even if City need to pay at the upper end of that range, it would still be worth it to offload a high earner and bring in a heavily discounted 22-year-old superstar who’s coveted by their biggest local rivals, while Grealish would surely be a player reborn and be worth every penny for Everton once he returned to being the lone star of the show.
Continue Reading