Jack Grealish makes Man City admission as revealing comment hints at future plan - 'Didn't enjoy'

Jack Grealish has joined Everton on a season-long loan from Manchester City and after making his first start he made an honest admission.

Jack Grealish has made an impressive start to life at Everton

Jack Grealish admitted he hadn't been enjoying his football at Manchester City before his loan switch to Everton and that his Etihad struggles almost led to him falling out of love with the game.

The 29-year-old has struggled for form since excelling in City's 2022/23 treble-winning season. He started just once in the Premier League after December 21 last term as his game fell apart.

That led to Grealish being left out of City's Club World Cup squad this summer, with Pep Guardiola informing the attacking midfielder he could look for a move away.

It was Everton who offered the £100million man an exit route, signing Grealish on loan with the promise of regular first-team football to try and rediscover his form.

The former Aston Villa man came off the bench in the defeat to Leeds but excelled from the start in Everton's win against Brighton, creating both goals in the Toffees' first game at their new Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Afterwards, Grealish spoke of his desire to bring some joy back to his football and his honest admission about his struggles over the last couple of years goes some way to explaining his difficulties at his parent club.

“For me, I wanted to come here, and the main thing was to enjoy football, you know, enjoying playing every day,” he said.

“And I think maybe at times in the last couple of years, I’ve fallen out of love – not fallen out of love, but just didn’t enjoy football as much as I should. My family said to me at times when I was at home and stuff. That’s down to no one else; it’s down to myself.

"But yeah, I absolutely love football, and I want to have that feeling again, when you wake up on a match day and you just can’t wait to get out there. That’s how I felt today and hopefully my performance showed that."

Although Grealish's City deal runs until 2027 and he could return to the club next summer, he sounded as if he was keen to draw a line under his time there.

“I absolutely loved my time at Man City,” he added. “I had a great four years there and won a lot of trophies.

“I just felt this summer it was time to change. As soon as I spoke to the manager, David Moyes, on FaceTime I knew it was the place I wanted to come. There were a lot of reasons I wanted to come and today shows why.

“It was a great day. We wanted to make it a special one for the fans and ourselves and the football club. The stadium was bouncing. It doesn’t get much better. It was incredible. So good.”

Everton have an option to make Grealish's move permanent for £50million next summer and he has made an impression on the club's supporters, while boss Moyes wants to see him return to his best level.

“We all want the Jack Grealish we all know but you don’t play for the club if you haven’t got it and Jack has certainly got it. We need him to show it more," said Moyes.

“He had licence to go at people, he ball-carried and his assists, especially the first one, was a little bit more of what you hope for. I just want Jack to be what he can be. We want him to take people on and be positive.

“I think the boy who we saw playing for Man City in the year they won the treble is a really exciting player and I hope we can get him back.“