Moyes Navigates Grealish and George Decisions for Everton
David Moyes is in no rush. Not with Jack Grealish. Not with Tyrique George. And certainly not with the shape of Everton’s summer.
As the club edges towards the end of the season and a meeting with Tottenham, the Everton manager made it clear that two of the most intriguing names in his squad remain firmly in the “to be decided” column.
Grealish dilemma as City reset
Grealish’s loan from Manchester City always carried a sense of theatre. A £100m footballer, 30 years old now, dropped into a side fighting to re-establish itself, tasked with adding craft and courage in the final third.
For a while, he did exactly that.
Before a foot injury wrecked his campaign, Grealish had begun to look like a player enjoying his football again. Two goals, six assists, 18 Premier League starts. Not spectacular on paper, but influential on the pitch: drifting inside, drawing fouls, knitting Everton’s attacks together.
Then came the break in his foot. Season over. Loan spell paused rather than completed.
He will report back to Manchester City this summer into a very different environment. Pep Guardiola is stepping down, a seismic change at the Etihad, and Grealish remains under contract there until 2027. A new manager, a new system, a fresh assessment of every asset. That complicates Everton’s thinking as much as their own budget does.
Moyes, for now, is deliberately non-committal.
“We've got two players on loan and, obviously, at the moment, they go back to their clubs and we'll take it from there,” he said. “As the summer goes on, we'll decide what path we're going to take on both of them. We like Tyrique, obviously we like Jack a lot – but we've not got an answer yet.”
What Everton do have is responsibility. Grealish’s recovery is still being overseen at Finch Farm.
“We've looked after Jack since his injury and his injury is coming on,” Moyes explained. “He had quite a bad break in his foot, which has been pinned and it's looking in good order now. The surgeon has been speaking very well about it and thinks it's healing greatly. Normally a player would go back to their parent club when injured and be looked after from there but we'll continue doing our best for Jack.”
That last line matters. It speaks to a relationship, not just a transaction. If Grealish does move again this summer, Everton want to be seen as the club that treated him properly, not just borrowed him.
George impresses in the shadows
At the other end of the experience scale sits Tyrique George, the 20-year-old winger who arrived from Chelsea in January.
His minutes have been sparse. One Premier League start. Just 182 league minutes in total. A handful of cameos rather than a run in the side.
Yet Moyes’ language about him is notably warm.
“We've enjoyed having Tyrique here – he's been an excellent boy and his work-rate and everything has been excellent, so we're happy with him,” he said.
That kind of endorsement, especially from a manager as demanding as Moyes, is not handed out lightly. George has had to learn quickly, adapt to a new dressing room, a new tactical structure, and the unforgiving rhythm of a relegation-threatened or rebuilding Premier League side where development often comes second to survival.
He has not yet had the platform to shape games. What he has done, clearly, is convince the manager he has the right attitude. Whether that is enough to trigger a permanent move will depend on how Everton balance potential with immediate needs when the window opens.
Mykolenko deal almost done
If Grealish and George represent uncertainty, Vitalii Mykolenko stands on firmer ground.
Moyes confirmed Everton are “very close” to agreeing a new deal for the Ukrainian, whose importance has grown steadily. Reliable, aggressive, and increasingly assured on the ball, Mykolenko has become a fixture on the left side of defence. Tying him down feels like one of the simpler decisions of the summer.
Locking in core players like Mykolenko gives Everton a base. The bigger calls now sit around the edges of the squad: how much creativity they need, how much they can afford, and whether short-term loans should become long-term commitments.
A summer of hard choices
For now, Moyes is content to let Grealish and George return to their parent clubs on paper, even as Everton’s staff continue to nurse Grealish back towards full fitness.
There is admiration for both. There is no firm decision on either.
Everton’s season has been shaped by fine margins and off-field turbulence. Their summer will be shaped by choices just as tight: do they gamble on Grealish’s fitness and star power, or trust a new City regime to keep him? Do they back George’s promise with a permanent deal, or wait and risk losing him to another suitor?
The answers will not just define a transfer window. They will help decide what kind of Everton Moyes is building – and how quickly it can move from survival mode to something more ambitious.
