Jack Grealish suffers broken foot injury & could face 'months' out in crushing blow to Everton loanee's chances of earning England recall

Grealish played all of Everton's 1-0 win over former club Aston Villa at the weekend, but now reports have surfaced of the 30-year-old picking up an injury. According to The Athletic, the England international has hurt his foot, which could rule him out for a significant chunk of the season. The report adds that the City loanee, who has been told he would be "perfect" in Major League Soccer, will see a specialist in the coming days to determine the extent of the issue. While this is a blow for the Toffees, Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye will be back from the Africa Cup of Nations after the pair won the competition with Senegal on Sunday.

Over the past few seasons, Grealish has become a shadow of the player that City forked out £100 million ($134m) for in 2021 from Villa. The flair and spontaneity he became known for were replaced by a system player, doing the deeds of manager Pep Guardiola. But since joining Everton on a season-long loan, the wide man has regained some of his former swagger. Indeed, he has scored two goals and added six assists in 22 appearances. If he continued on this path, Grealish would have been in with a shout of making Thomas Tuchel's England squad for this year's World Cup. Now, he may face an uphill struggle to achieve that goal. Moreover, this may jeopardise his chances of getting a permanent move to Everton, who have an option to buy the experienced England player for £50m ($67m) this summer.

Right from the off, Everton boss David Moyes has liked what he has seen from Grealish since joining the Toffees on loan. After bagging two assists against Brighton and then backing that up with a man of the match display against Wolves in August, the Scot sang the praises of the ex-Villa ace. 

The former Manchester United manager said: "He is even better than I thought. He probably needs a bit of love and attention. He needs the games as well. Hopefully he starts building on it and he gets even better as the season goes on. He is making a big difference. Whether it is his assists, his presence, lots of things. So all credit to him. He is playing the minutes he may not have had in recent years. You know, he's so good. What Jack gives us is something just on the edge, which, hopefully it's on the edge of creativeness and maybe scoring goals."

When asked about his upturn in form, Moyes was keen to downplay his role in that. 

He added: "It's nothing to do with me, let me tell you - it's all to do with Jack and his own mentality to be better. There's a wee bit to prove, I'm sure - I think we all have. I think in life, you've always got something you have to strive to do. And I think Jack wants to show that he's a good player. I think he's showing it at the moment."

Despite not playing for England since 2024, Three Lions boss Tuchel has previously admitted he is a fan of Grealish. Although the winger, whose Etihad contract runs until 2027, hasn't played under the German so far during his England tenure, there is still time to get into his World Cup squad, although those chances have taken a hit with this injury. 

He said in August: "There's no doubt I am a big fan of Trent [Alexander-Arnold] and Jack Grealish. Big players and big personalities, always in the mix."