Maresca Keeps Grealish Options Open Amid Everton Interest

Enzo Maresca has barely taken his seat at Manchester City and already one of the club’s most expensive players sits at the heart of his first big call. Jack Grealish is back at the Etihad, back in rehab, and back in the middle of a tug of war.

Everton want him. City are listening. Maresca, for now, is keeping his options open.

The new City manager refused to close the door on Grealish staying in Manchester, even with Everton pushing to bring the £100m forward back to Hill Dickinson Stadium after his eye-catching loan spell last season.

“At the moment, he's here. He's a Man City player,” Maresca said at his first press conference as City boss, making it clear that, until told otherwise, Grealish is his responsibility and his project.

Grealish’s year at Everton was cut in two. Before January, he had begun to look like a player reborn: two late match-winning goals, six assists, and a growing influence in the final third. Then came the setback. A stress fracture in his foot, suffered in a 1-0 win at former club Aston Villa, ended his season in an instant.

The England international stayed at Finch Farm to complete the bulk of his rehabilitation, remaining around the Everton squad until his loan officially expired last month. He is now back at City, edging closer to full training as the medical staff manage the final stages of his recovery.

This time, though, he returns to a very different Etihad. Pep Guardiola has gone. Maresca, once Guardiola’s assistant and most recently in charge at Leicester City and Chelsea, now carries the weight of the main job.

And crucially, he carries a relationship with Grealish that predates this summer.

“Jack is here. I have a good relation with Jack since I left,” Maresca explained. “Also, we keep in touch, and the reason why is because he has a big heart and he's a very good guy.”

For a player whose form has often been judged against his price tag, that bond with the new manager matters. Maresca stressed his basic principle: if a player belongs to the club, it is his duty to coach him, to try to make it work. Grealish, he reminded everyone, still belongs to Manchester City.

“And then we see what happens,” he added, leaving the future deliberately unresolved.

Everton, though, are not hiding their intentions. There is a clear desire at Goodison to bring Grealish back, and there is a belief on Merseyside that the player is open to the idea of returning after the connection he built with the club and its supporters last season.

The complication lies in the form of the deal. City are understood to prefer a permanent sale over another loan, a stance that would force Everton into serious financial commitment if they want to turn admiration into agreement.

Before any of that, one hurdle stands above all others: fitness. Grealish must first prove he is fully recovered from the stress fracture and ready to withstand the demands of a full Premier League campaign. Only then will talks, fees and clauses move from background noise to centre stage.

For now, he works at City’s training ground, under a manager who knows him, likes him, and isn’t rushing to push him out of the door. Everton wait, hopeful but not yet decisive players in the story.

The next time Grealish steps onto a pitch, the question will be simple: will it be in blue at Hill Dickinson Stadium, or sky blue under Maresca’s new regime at the Etihad?