Everton Secure Grealish on Loan After Ndiaye Exit
In the chaos of deadline week, when phones don’t stop buzzing and plans change by the hour, Everton have gone back to a familiar solution. Jack Grealish is returning to Hill Dickinson Stadium on a season-long loan from Manchester City, with a medical booked for Tuesday morning and only the formalities left to clear.
This isn’t a romantic reunion for its own sake. It’s a reaction.
Ndiaye to City, Grealish Back to Everton
The domino that set everything in motion was Iliman Ndiaye. His move to Manchester City, a deal understood to be worth up to $88 million (£65 million), ripped a key attacking piece out of David Moyes’ plans just as the season was taking shape. Everton suddenly had a hole on the flank and almost no time to fill it.
So they went straight back to the club taking Ndiaye away from them and asked about Grealish. Talks followed within hours. Both sides knew the terrain. The player did too.
Grealish, now 30, spent last season on loan with the Toffees and looked at home in Moyes’ system. Two goals and six assists in 22 appearances don’t tell the whole story of his impact before a stress fracture in his foot cut his campaign short in January. He gave Everton ball-carrying thrust, drew defenders into fouls and chaos, and connected with the crowd in a way that can’t be measured on a spreadsheet.
The injury ended his season, but not his relationship with the club. Everton kept in touch across the summer, even as Sunderland and Aston Villa circled and weighed up their own moves. When Ndiaye went, the choice became obvious. The deal is now agreed in principle, with Grealish expected to complete his medical and sign off just hours before Tuesday’s deadline slams shut.
A Financial Statement from Everton
The numbers behind the move underline how badly Everton want this to work.
They are set to cover around 90% of Grealish’s wages. That is a huge outlay for a loan, given he earns close to $405,000 (£300,000) a week at City. There is no loan fee attached, but the commitment is clear in the wage bill alone.
Built into the agreement is an option to buy next summer for $67.5 million (£50 million), timed for when his City contract expires. If the season goes as both sides hope, Everton will have the chance to turn this second spell into something permanent.
For City, it tidies up a complicated situation. Grealish arrived from Aston Villa in 2021 for a then-British-record $135 million (£100 million) and collected his share of trophies under Pep Guardiola. The medals came; the minutes, increasingly, did not. With his contract running down and his salary scaring off permanent bidders, a loan suited everyone. City clear space and wages. Grealish gets what he has been missing: a run of games. Everton get a ready-made creator for a system he already understands.
What Grealish Gives Moyes – Again
At full flow, Grealish is exactly the sort of winger Moyes likes to build around. He carries the ball aggressively, commits defenders, and buys his side territory and set-pieces. He gives shape to attacks and time to teammates. His first spell at Everton proved he can still bend a game to his rhythm away from the Etihad spotlight.
Supporters warmed not just to his talent but to his graft. He tracked back, he pressed, he played through knocks until the foot injury forced him out. That setback was severe, but he has recovered and already featured briefly for City this season. Now he walks back into a dressing room where he is known, trusted and wanted.
The timing suits him. This is not a rehabilitation stint in the shadows; it is a central role in a team being rapidly rebuilt.
Everton’s forward line is being reshaped on the fly. They have agreed a deal worth more than $54 million (£40 million) for USMNT striker Folarin Balogun from Monaco, a statement signing through the middle. Beto is heading to Fiorentina for $23 million (£17 million), clearing space and funds. Into that shifting picture steps Grealish, slotting back onto the flank, linking with a new centre-forward and asked to provide the creativity Ndiaye would have offered.
A Loan With the Feel of a Trial Run
Because Grealish is out of contract next summer, this loan carries a different weight. The option to buy for around $67.5 million (£50 million) is not a vague idea tucked into the small print; it is the likely fork in the road.
If he stays fit, if he drives Everton’s attack, if the chemistry with Moyes and the crowd picks up where it left off, this can become his long-term home. If it doesn’t, City and player part ways next summer anyway, and Everton move on with minimal long-term damage.
For now, the clock is ticking on the window. City press ahead with their own evolution. Everton scramble to get the medical done and the paperwork filed. And somewhere between Manchester and Merseyside, a 30-year-old winger knows he is about to get something he has been starved of: a season to prove, unequivocally, what he still is at the highest level.
