Man City transfer news: Historic Jack Grealish loss on the cards as Everton 'formulate plan' for permanent signing

Everton are reportedly optimistic of sealing a cut-price permanent deal for Jack Grealish next summer, so long as the Manchester City loanee can continue performing in the same vein.

The £100m man was crowned August's Premier League Player of the Month after hitting the ground running under David Moyes, registering four assists in his first three Premier League appearances for the Toffees.

Grealish provided a pair of helpers against Brighton & Hove Albion before repeating the trick against Wolverhampton Wanderers last time out, becoming the first Everton player to register two or more assists in two straight Premier League appearances.

Everton are understood to have agreed on a £50m option to make the 30-year-old's stay permanent at the end of the season, but Man City only have Grealish under contract until the summer of 2027 so could realistically be pressured into selling for a lower fee.

According to The Telegraph, the Toffees are hopeful of striking a deal for less than the agreed-upon £50m next summer, and that clause is not a 'fixed' amount that Everton would have to pay to keep Grealish.

Everton 'hopeful' of cheap Grealish deal, but salary concerns arise

The report claims that the £50m option is a 'consequence of accounting' rather than a firm price that Everton have to pay, so there will be some wiggle room in negotiations with Man City next summer.

Unless the Sky Blues unexpectedly tie Grealish down to a contract extension, they will be under pressure to recoup any amount of money for the attacker in 2026, lest they risk losing their nine-figure investment for nothing in two years' time.

Furthermore, Grealish's hefty wage packet - supposedly in the region of £12m a year - means that Everton would struggle to fork out any transfer fee for the England international, let alone the £50m clause in his loan agreement.

As a result, Grealish joining Moyes's side permanently on a free transfer is said to be the 'most realistic' outcome if the winger is to stay on Merseyside, but that would require Man City agreeing to terminate his contract and forgoing a potentially sizeable transfer fee.

Grealish briefly became the most expensive British footballer in history when he joined Man City for £100m from Aston Villa in the summer of 2021, and he has since become a three-time Premier League champion and Champions League winner under Pep Guardiola.

However, the 30-year-old has only managed a mediocre 17 goals and 23 assists from 157 matches for the Citizens in all competitions, including just one goal and one assist in the 2024-25 Premier League campaign.

Grealish could become Man City's biggest transfer loss of all time

If Grealish was to walk away from Man City for nothing in 2026, five years on from his £100m arrival, the Englishman would unsurprisingly become Man City's biggest transfer loss of all time, and one of the biggest transfer losses in the history of football.

The Sky Blues recently waved goodbye to Kevin De Bruyne on a free transfer to Napoli, 10 years on from his £65.8m arrival, but Grealish going for zero pennies would significantly trump the loss made on the Belgian.

However, Grealish would not quite be the biggest transfer loss ever; Barcelona sold Philippe Coutinho for £129m less than they bought him for, while Neymar departed Paris Saint-Germain for Al-Hilal at a loss of £122m.