Wayne Rooney wearing headphones in a circular inset, Jack Grealish in the Everton home kit.
(Credit: BBC Sport YouTube channel/Manh Tung, Breaking Media)
Niall Togher
Mon 25 August 2025 19:40, UK
Everton got their Premier League campaign up and running by defeating Brighton 2-0 at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, with Jack Grealish playing a starring role.
An instinctive finish from Iliman Ndiaye at the back post and a thunderbolt from James Garner were enough to secure David Moyes’ side their first points of the new season.
Jordan Pickford was also on hand to save Danny Welbeck’s penalty and prevent any threat of a late comeback.
Despite all this, it was Grealish who stole the show, with former Everton player Wayne Rooney being impressed with the winger’s performance.
Jack Grealish trains for England at St George's Park
Grealish will surely find his way back into the England setup if he keeps performing like he did against Brighton (Credit: Imago)
Wayne Rooney praises Jack Grealish’s work ethic on his Everton debut
Grealish’s talent going forward is evident for all to see, but his defensive work often goes under the radar, with the 29-year-old not afraid to get stuck-in despite being a flair player.
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This trait is something that Rooney was impressed with on Grealish’s debut, and the former England captain had this to say on The Wayne Rooney Show on 25 August.
“I think obviously getting the two assists on his home debut, first start, was great for him. But I really liked, I think it was the first few minutes of the game when there was an opportunity for him to get the full-back, and the full-back tackled him,” Rooney said.
“And he come back and he put an aggressive tackle and won the ball back. And you could see the reaction from the crowd, the crowd are all up on their feet. And they’re big moments, they create the atmosphere at stadiums.
“He obviously worked his way into the game, got his two assists, which I think is good for him because it’ll give him a lot of confidence.”
Grealish’s stats against Brighton:
Assists – 2
Key passes – 3
Big chances created – 1
Tackles – 3
The winger proved he is still capable of producing magic regularly despite being frozen out of the Manchester City side by Pep Guardiola last season.
Carlos Alcaraz could find playing time hard to come by this season
With the three of Grealish, Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall all impressing against Brighton, Alcaraz could find it hard to break into the starting XI regularly.
You would anticipate that this would only get harder for the Argentinian as Grealish begins to settle and gels with his new teammates even further.
In order to fit all of his most exciting players in the same team, perhaps Moyes could drop Dewsbury-Hall to the base of midfield alongside Idrissa Gueye to allow Alcaraz to play in the number ten role.
This wealth of attacking options can only be a good thing for Moyes, and he may opt to deploy this more attacking team against sides that come to the Hill Dickinson Stadium and sit in a low block.
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