Everton could cut short Jack Grealish’s loan and send him back to Manchester City when the January window opens, according to Football Insider, whose reporting also claims manager David Moyes had been reluctant to take the 31-year-old winger back for a second season.

Grealish has been out of the matchday squad for three games running. He missed part of a training session on the Monday before Everton’s Carabao Cup win over Newcastle, and he had earlier attended the Pride of Britain Awards in London on the eve of an Arsenal fixture for which he was then listed as ill, TEAMtalk reported.

Moyes gave little away at his post-Newcastle press conference.

“All I’m giving out is that he is unavailable at the moment,” he said, according to Football365.

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The claim that has moved the story on concerns last summer. Football Insider reports that Moyes was reluctant to re-sign the winger and that the deal only went through at the end of the window because the manager had run out of options, with Everton’s ownership unwilling to fund a permanent signing in that position. The implication is that Grealish was not the plan but the last option left.

‘Incandescent’ reaction inside Finch Farm

The frustration runs beyond the dugout. Everton’s senior leadership, including chief executive Angus Kinnear, was described as “incandescent” at the breach of discipline, according to Football365’s reporting.

Grealish’s form has been shadowed by an injury that cost him most of last season at Manchester City. His current loan at Everton runs through the summer of 2027.

Everton still plan to reintegrate him

Despite the Football Insider claim about a possible January termination, Everton are not actively planning to end the loan early. TEAMtalk reports the club intends to reintegrate the winger if he meets the standards expected of him, and even if the loan contains a break clause, cutting it short would still need Manchester City’s agreement.

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Asked whether there was still a way back for Grealish, Moyes was brief. “Of course there is, yes,” he said, according to Goodison News via Yahoo.

Everton host Coventry City at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Friday, 6 November.

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