Maresca Keeps Options Open for Grealish as Everton Wait
Enzo Maresca has only just walked through the front door at Manchester City, but one of his first tasks is already clear: decide what happens next with Jack Grealish.
The new City manager refused to close the book on the £100m midfielder’s Etihad career, even as Everton circle and push to bring him back to Hill Dickinson Stadium.
“At the moment, he’s here. He’s a Man City player,” Maresca said at his first press conference. No fanfare, no grand statement. Just a reminder that, for now, Grealish still belongs to the champions.
A loan spell that lit up Everton’s season – then stopped dead
Grealish’s year at Everton never felt like a typical loan. It felt bigger. He arrived with a point to prove and, when fit, delivered in the moments that matter most.
- Two late match-winning goals.
- Six assists.
He changed games, dragged Everton up the pitch and gave their attack a different edge before his season was abruptly cut short.
The stress fracture in his foot, suffered in January during a 1-0 win at former club Aston Villa, stopped his campaign in its tracks. That injury ruled the England international out for the rest of the season, but not out of Everton’s daily life. He stayed at Finch Farm until his loan officially expired last month, rehabbing alongside the squad he had helped to ignite.
Everton would take him back tomorrow. Inside the club, there is a clear desire to re-sign him, and there is a belief that the feeling is mutual.
Back at City, under a familiar face
Now Grealish is back where it all began for him in this chapter: Manchester City. The 30-year-old is continuing his recovery at the Etihad Campus, edging closer to a full return to training.
This time, though, the man in charge is someone he already knows.
Maresca, once Pep Guardiola’s assistant, has returned to Manchester not as a lieutenant but as the main man after his spells in charge of Leicester City and Chelsea. He inherits a squad built for dominance, but also one facing key decisions, and Grealish sits near the top of that list.
“Jack is here,” Maresca said. “I have a good relation with Jack since I left. Also, we keep in touch, and the reason why is because he has a big heart and he’s a very good guy. So this is the reason why.
“And then we see what happens.”
It was a line that said plenty without giving anything away. Grealish will be treated like any other City player. He will be coached, assessed, judged. But the door is not shut.
City’s stance, Everton’s hope
One complication looms over the romance of a Goodison return: money.
City are understood to favour a permanent sale over another loan. For a player signed for £100m, that is no small negotiation. Everton, who would love to build around Grealish again, must wait for two things: his fitness and City’s final decision on the structure of any deal.
First, he has to get back on the grass. Until he proves his foot is fully healed and his sharpness has returned, talks can only go so far.
So Grealish works away at City, Maresca watches closely, and Everton wait. The club that rebuilt his confidence wants him back. The club that broke the bank for him must now decide whether he still fits into their next era.
Does Maresca see a rejuvenated Grealish as part of his City blueprint, or will one of the Premier League’s most expensive signings be on the move again before the window closes?
