Jack Grealish given new Everton challenge after silencing Man City critics

Jack Grealish may have won his first ever Premier League player of the month and there may be talk of an England return soon. But Everton boss David Moyes believes there’s much more to come from the Toffees’ new hero.

And despite speaking about it with him, he has no problem with Grealish ’s ‘Jack the lad’ reputation as the Scot sees no harm in having a maverick in his squad. Grealish, who recently turned 30, arrived on loan at Everton this summer from Manchester City with a point to prove. He’d fallen out of favour at City under Pep Guardiola and, by his own admission, had fallen out of love with the game. Yet he arrived with the warning that he wouldn’t walk into Everton’s team. He’d have to earn his spot.

He’s got four assists in his two starts for the Blues in wins over Brighton and Wolves after a cameo appearance in the Leeds defeat off the bench. It has led to him being named August’s Premier League Player of the Month , which, remarkably, is the first time he’s won the honour.

“The accolade of getting player of the month is a big thing, this is a boy who didn’t get it when he was at Man City, didn’t get it when he was at Aston Villa ,” said Moyes.

“It just shows you he’s stepping back up. I genuinely believe he has another two or three levels to go. I think he has more to come as well. I want to keep pushing him a bit and challenging him to keep doing it. He’s been assisting and we want him to score goals on the back of it as well, if we can.”

Grealish will face his old club Aston Villa on Saturday when Everton host them at Hill Dickinson Stadium. His performances have had something thinking that ‘freedom’ is back in his play like he used to have at Villa. Although Moyes checked Grealish when he brought up ‘freedom’ when they discussed moving to Merseyside.

The game has changed and, although he was in something of a tactical straight jacket at City which smothered him, it doesn’t mean he could just roam everywhere in the blue of Everton.

The other concern was if Grealish’s motivation had been quelled. The ‘Jack the lad’ attitude is good for a while but questions were growing about his commitment when it came to lifestyle.

There’s been no suggestion he looks anything other than in fine fettle since he made the loan move, which although has a £50m option is unlikely to be triggered given his value may be less next summer with one year left on his deal.

“No I did talk to him about it before he came,” said Moyes. I did mention it. Sometimes you have to take players’ flair, he’s a bit of a maverick, he’s been a great player and if we could get the best out of him it is what we needed at the time.

“We know he can be a lad. He’s a really good lad. I had to think ‘Are we going to get a Jack Grealish who is on the way down and not able to perform again?’ That was a big consideration for us - were we getting the real Jack Grealish?”

It certainly looks like it so far.

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