By Ahmad Ali, Sports Editor
Everton left Jack Grealish out of their Carabao Cup fourth-round tie against Newcastle United at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Thursday night. In a short statement on social media, the club said the 31-year-old “is unavailable for selection due to a breach of club discipline”. Without him, David Moyes’ side won 3-1. James Garner, Hayden Hackney and Thierno Barry scored, Dan Burn got a late consolation for Newcastle, and Everton now face Fleetwood Town in the quarter-finals. Most of the attention afterwards was on the player who wasn’t there.
Everton have not said what the breach was. The Times reported that Grealish was disciplined for an unauthorised absence from training. According to the Liverpool Echo, he missed a session after illness had already kept him out of Saturday’s 2-0 Premier League defeat at Arsenal. Moyes would not add anything.
“I’m not going to give any details and it’s a club decision and I support the decision,” the Everton manager said. “I don’t want to go into details.” Asked whether he felt let down, he said only: “It is something I don’t want to speak too much about.”
A loan spell that has stalled
Grealish is in his second straight season-long loan at Everton from Manchester City. He is also in the final year of a City contract reported to be worth around £300,000 a week. That makes this a bad time to be making headlines for the wrong reasons.
His first season on Merseyside started well. Freed from the rotation at the Etihad, he produced two goals and six assists in 20 league appearances before a foot injury ended his campaign early. He finished it on the treatment table, not on the plane to the World Cup. He has 39 England caps, and the last of them came in October 2024.
This season has been harder going. Grealish has made eight appearances in all competitions, two for City and six for Everton, and has no goals or assists yet. He started the three Premier League games before the trip to the Emirates, so he was still central to Moyes’ plans until last weekend.
Moyes’ warning, and a familiar pattern
What stands out most is how clearly Moyes had set out his expectations when Grealish came back for a second spell.
“I think Jack knows what I expect now. We had lots of conversations last year,” Moyes said earlier in the campaign. “But I also want him to be a senior professional and a role model. We’ve got Tyrique [George] and Tyler [Dibling].” He added: “I think we’ve got a mature Jack Grealish now as well in terms of understanding the game and what is required, being a team player.”
That description now looks out of date. On Thursday Moyes stressed collective standards instead: “The one thing about Everton is that they have got real good values, all the players stand behind it and accept the values, on the pitch and off the pitch.”
For anyone who has followed Grealish’s career, the episode is familiar. Discipline has come up again and again:
- November 2015: Aston Villa manager Remi Garde dropped a teenage Grealish for the Watford game, calling his conduct “not professional” after reports that he went to a Manchester nightclub hours after a 4-0 defeat at Everton.
- September 2016: Roberto Di Matteo left him out against Newcastle and fined him after an investigation into a party at a Birmingham hotel, telling him to “grow up”.
- 2020: As Villa captain, he apologised and was fined by the club for breaking Covid-19 lockdown rules.
- Manchester City: After the 2022-23 Treble season he was increasingly sidelined, amid reports of nightclub incidents that cost him favour with Pep Guardiola.
Every time, Grealish has come back from these setbacks. He matured into Villa’s captain, became a £100m signing and then a Treble winner. The difference now is that, at 31, he has much less time left to win people back.
What now for Grealish and Everton?
In the short term, all eyes are on Monday’s Premier League trip to St James’ Park, where Everton face Newcastle again. Moyes refused to say whether Grealish would be involved. “I wouldn’t give any team news away,” he said. Some outlets have reported that a fine is likely, but neither the club nor the player has confirmed one.
The bigger question is about his future. A player on loan has limited job security, and this one has a parent club with no obvious long-term role for him. Everton’s next move matters. If he returns quickly after an internal punishment, this will look like a minor setback in an otherwise workable relationship. A longer absence would suggest the arrangement has run its course, and the January window would start to matter for both clubs.
For Everton, the result on Thursday showed they can cope without him. A small squad won a cup tie comfortably against Premier League opposition, and the players Moyes named as Grealish’s protégés, George and Dibling, will hope the opening becomes a run of games.
For Grealish, the way back is clear. Moyes says he wants a role model, and in his first spell Grealish showed he can be a creative, unselfish wide player who makes his team better. Whether he can be that player again, and stay out of trouble while doing it, will probably decide where he plays next season and how the last part of his career goes.
The club statement ran to a single sentence, but it is the latest reminder that Grealish’s off-pitch conduct still decides as much about his career as anything he does on the ball.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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