Jack Grealish has signed for Everton on a season-long loan from Manchester City. The three-time Premier League and Champions League winner will wear the number 18 shirt for the Toffees in the 2025/26 season.
The 29-year-old England international is one of the most exciting signings for Everton in years and while the benefits on the pitch will be discussed by people with a greater tactical nous than me, the benefits off the pitch could be equally as important for Everton.
Over the past decade Everton’s reputation has taken a battering. Poor performances on the pitch have been matched with chaos off it has led the club to take on the title of one of the most disfunctional in the Premier League. Dreary managers such as Rafa Benitez and Sean Dyche playing archaic football has further plunged the club’s reputation.
The impact of this is important. Everton’s prize money for placing 13th in the Premier League last year should have been a major boost to the club compared to a 15th place in the previous season. In reality, that extra cash was wiped out by the fact Everton were shown on television less than previous years.
In short, TV companies did not want to broadcast Everton games and nobody outside of the fanbase wanted to watch them.
Everton has a PR problem. It’s a problem that leads to national media queuing up to kick the club at every opportunity. In the Athletic’s big pre season review Everton had a single mention; a joke about fans booing their own team at the new Hill Dickinson Stadium. Big voices are pitching Everton as unlikeable and inconsequential.
When it comes to player representatives you can almost feel the big brands struggling. Jordan Pickford might make the odd appearance on the front of a pack of Premier League stickers. Sky will stick Abdoulaye Doucoure or Dwight McNeil on a match preview. But in terms of marketability you’re more likely to be seeing Everton players used as the poster boys for negative stories – as Tim Iroegbunam found out when he became the unwitting face of ‘dodgy’ PR deals last summer.
Of course, none of this really matters. Evertonians just want players who will help them win games, lift trophies and take them to the top of European football. A signing like Grealish is a talented footballer who will improve the team instantly.
But it is difficult to ignore that off the pitch he can subtly help to alter the perception of Everton. He has 8.6m followers on Instagram compared to Everton’s 3.2m. He is a good-looking, talented England international who is well liked by teammates and is famous for his willingness to engage with fans even when others do not.
In the world of EAFC Grealish is a marketable star who younger fans will get excited about. Over the last few years it must have been difficult to be a young Everton fan. A team managed by Sean Dyche labouring to narrow victories and gruelling defeats offers little to somebody who is bombarded by shiny games featuring world class footballers.
A young Everton fan today will instead be turning up to a stunning stadium to watch Illiman Ndiaye, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jack Grealish. For the first time since James Rodriguez there is something for them to be excited about.
The move could also impact others. Despite the new stadium moving to Everton would have been seen as a risk at the beginning of the summer. Everton saw multiple players decline their approaches because, while Hill Dickinson Stadium looks incredible, how do they know Everton have changed for the better? All they see is a team toiling in the lower half of the table amid financial meltdown.
A player now may look at Jack Grealish talking about emulating Wayne Rooney and Paul Gascoigne – interestingly search for Gascoigne, Rooney and Everton’s number 18 increased drastically on Google in the minutes after Everton’s announcement. The club was quick to act, instantly dressing the club shop up with Grealish’s image and shirts with his name and the number 18.
Tyler Dibling, probably England’s best young talent in the mould of all three, is probably casting glances north and wondering if a season playing alongside Grealish would be fun. Grealish’s old teammate Douglas Luiz may consider getting the band back together.
Let’s not get carried away. Everton have signed big name players before and it does not instantly make the club a destination that will see players queuing up to get involved. Grealish will not cause millions to suddenly flow into club coffers – quite the opposite given the reported £12.8m fee that comes with the ambitious move.
Any perceived success ultimately relies on Grealish doing the job on the pitch. But if he does then maybe Everton will be bumped up a few slots on Match of the Day. Maybe TNT Sports will have a week off from showing Liverpool games to broadcast an Everton one. Maybe a few younger Everton fans will choose to buy a club kit instead of a PSG shirt. Today the BBC Football home page has two positive articles about Everton. The last time Everton appeared multiple items on the home page was when five separate pieces were commissioned to attack James Tarkowski after his tackle in the Merseyside derby.
Subtle, small shifts in perceptions can improve the long term health of a club. It can bring new fans in and generate revenue. Jack Grealish is another small step for a club pulling itself back from the brink.