It always seemed likely to happen, all summer long. Jack Grealish wanted to come back to Everton, and David Moyes wanted Grealish. Manchester City wanted him off their books.
There were complications, a major one being that Grealish’s Man City deal runs out next June, meaning Man City preferred a sale. But a sale was, realistically, never on the cards.
Throw in that Grealish was still recovering from the severe foot injury that he sustained in January, and it was no surprise that the transfer dragged on right until deadline day.
But all in all, a lot of people were on board with bringing Grealish back.
Iliman Ndiaye was always likely to leave, and therefore bringing in a player of Grealish’s skillset made logical sense. He wanted to be at Everton, so there was no need to spend time trying to persuade him to come.
Now Grealish is not an out-and-out Ndiaye replacement, but he does provide a bit more creativity and also has the ability to hold onto the ball and carry it.
However, he lacks Ndiaye’s dynamism, turn of pace and trickery, as well as finishing ability.
But it definitely wasn’t seen as a drop-off in quality.
Yet, we’re now deep into October, and Grealish’s second stint at Everton is yet to come close to sparking into life.
It is in sharp contrast to the start of last season, when Grealish got going with 2 assists on each of his first 2 starts.
Grealish was hugely influential for Everton last term, and even though his campaign finished in mid-January, he ranked second in the Toffees’ squad for assists (6) and chances created (42).
He led the way for chances created from open play (40), and when assessing per-90 metrics, Grealish led Everton’s squad for chances created (2.2), chances created from open play (2.1) and assists (0.3), while he averaged 0.4 goal involvements.
Interestingly, Grealish is at 2.6 chances created per 90 so far this season, so it is not as though he is not laying on opportunities for team-mates.
However, his key passing numbers are slightly down, while his non-penalty xG and xA is also down. His carrying and dribbling numbers are similar, yet it does just feel he isn’t quite as sharp. Teams are finding it easier to double up on him, probably because they know they have little else to worry about, given Moyes has elected to start Brennan Johnson or Merlin Röhl out on the opposite flank.
This is where Moyes has to step up and realise that to get the best out of Grealish, Everton’s attack can not always centre around him.
Tyrique George or Tyler Dibling must be starting out on the right, because both of them offer more of a threat in all-round play than either Johnson or Röhl.
If opposition defences have to be dragged over to deal with the slick dribbling of Dibling, or the shooting ability of George, then perhaps Grealish will just have that bit more space and time to do some real damage.
But Grealish, too, has to be better.
Against Hull City, he was far too slow on the ball, squandering multiple chances to put crosses in. Admittedly, the movement from others must be there, but the one time Grealish did deliver a dangerous cross, Thierno Barry was on hand for a free header, that he should have done better with.
There were positive signs in the first half against Chelsea, with Grealish getting a bit of joy. He tested Emiliano Martinez with a well-struck volley, and then crafted Everton’s only big opportunity when he delivered an excellent cross onto Barry’s head.
But those moments have so far been too few and far between.
Grealish is still a top class player, but Everton need to be getting more from him, and it needs to happen soon.
Stats courtesy of DataMB and Opta
Read more – ToffeeWeb Talk: Reaction to the Chelsea defeat and the next test at Arsenal – Episode 10