There has been a lot of talk around the future of Jack Grealish in recent days as the summer transfer window gets closer to shutting.
The winger is not part of the plans at Man City ahead of the 25/26 campaign after Pep Guardiola left Grealish out of his squad for the FIFA Club World Cup, which followed an underwhelming season for the Englishman last time around.
There has been a lack of interest in the 29-year-old during the current window, which stems from the £50m transfer fee Man City want for a permanent deal, while a loan move is complicated by the player’s £300k-a-week salary.
Everton look to be Grealish’s most likely destination if he is to leave the Etihad Stadium over the coming weeks, but the Merseyside club want the winger to take a leaf out of Marcus Rashford’s book.
Marcus Rashford in action during Vissel Kobe v FC Barcelona.
Photo by Koji Watanabe/Getty Images
Everton are confident of signing Jack Grealish
Tottenham enquired about Grealish in recent days, but it doesn’t look like the North London club are going to pursue the winger before the deadline shuts.
Everton’s interest seems to be strongest, and according to Ben Jacobs, the Toffees are now confident that they can get a loan deal over the line for the 25/26 campaign.
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“Everton have made an approach to Manchester City that follows on from an initial inquiry right at the beginning of the window,” Jacobs told talkSPORT.
“They want Grealish and they’d like to do a loan, two challenges. First, are Man City going to sanction a loan, and they’ll only do so, we understand it exclusively with 100% wage coverage.
“And then, even with whatever 100% wage coverage is, can Everton persuade Jack Grealish, maybe with a view to an option to buy, or maybe due to the fact financially, they can’t do a loan on his current terms? So will Grealish go down in number with a view to playing and maybe trying to force his way into Thomas Tuchel’s thinking?
“And I think there’s actually some confidence on the Grealish side, from Everton’s perspective, that he might make a concession like Marcus Rashford did to go to Barcelona, but you still have to get all these other bits in place.
“There’ll be a high wage regardless, even with a concession, there’ll be a loan fee. So Man City are really bullish, because they still think there might be someone out there that says, Let’s try and sign Jack Grealish permanently.
“So Everton are trying. Everton are confident they can get Grealish buy-in, but it’s still a very complicated deal.”
Everton have Raheem Sterling on their list as an alternative to Grealish, which is a problem for the Man City star during the negotiations, as it is not the end of the world for the Merseyside club if they miss out on the 29-year-old.
Jack Grealish warms up ahead of Manchester City v Nottingham Forest.
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
Where Jack Grealish fits into Everton’s wage structure
Rashford completed a loan move to Barcelona this summer from Man United, and in order to do so, the Englishman had to take a 25% pay cut, but Grealish’s situation is more complicated than this.
The Catalan club can still hand out large pay packages, which is not the Merseyside club’s case, as Jordan Pickford is their highest earner on £125k-a-week.
Player Salary
Jordan Pickford £125k
Idrissa Gueye £120k
Jarrad Branthwaite £120k
James Tarkowski £100k
Michael Keane £70k
Everton’s payroll (via Spotrac)
Even if Grealish took a 50% pay cut, that would still have the 29-year-old on top of Everton’s payroll earning £150k-a-week, which would not go down well with David Moyes’ dressing room, seeing that the winger is only a loan player.
Grealish’s move to Everton is very complicated, and it may come down to how much the Man City star is willing to sacrifice in order to give himself a chance of playing at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.