Grealish's significant setback appears imminent as Everton await

Signed in the summer of 2021 for a staggering fee approaching €120 million, Jack Grealish's rise and fall at Manchester City has been meteoric. After an initial adaptation period, the England international was one of the standout players for the 'Sky Blues' during the treble-winning 2023 season. Now, two years later, his significant (sporting) setback is very close to being confirmed.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Grealish will become an Everton player within the next few hours, arriving on loan after Pep Guardiola fully opened the Etihad Stadium doors for him to depart.

Despite his cost and substantial wages, the player has fallen out of favour over the last 24 months at the Manchester club, where he has only started on three occasions since February 12th, playing a mere 1,518 minutes in the last season. This figure confirms his definitive decline in the plans of the Santpedor-born manager, a trend already evident in the 2023-24 campaign where, for one reason or another, Grealish's minutes dropped from almost 3,500 in the treble-winning season to 'only' 2,145.

The deal appears completely finalised, with 'The Times' indicating that the player will undergo his medical examination this Monday, August 11th. At 29 years old, and with a contract until 2027, Grealish seems set to leave (it remains to be seen if permanently) the elite of English football, swapping a team designed and obligated to compete for everything for a historic club that has spent too long drifting in the mid-to-lower reaches of the Premier League table.