Sunderland have submitted an offer to sign Manchester City midfielder Jack Grealish on loan for the 2026-27 season, presenting competition for Everton, who remain interested in bringing him back to the club.
As first reported by The Athletic, Sunderland's bid would see them cover part of Grealish's £300,000-per-week wages and includes the option of making the move permanent when his contract expires next summer.
Grealish's season at Everton
The England international spent last season on loan at Everton, scoring two goals and creating six more in 22 appearances before suffering a stress fracture in his foot in January during the 1-0 win at his former club Aston Villa.
Grealish, who made a British transfer record £100m move from Villa to City in 2019, spent the remainder of the campaign rehabilitating at Everton's Finch Farm training base.
Return to Manchester City
The 30-year-old returned to training at the Etihad Campus in July and, after proving his fitness to new manager Enzo Maresca, came off the bench as City lost the Community Shield 3-0 to Arsenal and then produced a late fightback to win 2-1 at home to Bournemouth in their Premier League opener.
While Grealish is currently featuring under Maresca, it is understood his club would be willing to allow him to leave this summer either permanently or on loan.
Everton's interest and Moyes' response
Everton passed up the chance to buy the playmaker for £50m at the end of the 2025-26 season. However, it is understood they remain interested in re-signing him on loan.
When quizzed about the prospects of that happening, Blues boss David Moyes told reporters at the embargoed section of his press conference on Friday: “It’s a difficult one. I don’t know at the moment. It’s a question that I can’t give you a clear answer on at the moment.”
Earlier in the week, Everton's chief executive, Angus Kinnear, was also asked about the chances of Grealish returning. He told BBC Radio Merseyside: “Jack is a player we have remained in contact with. It was no secret that he decided to have his rehabilitation done here for the remainder of last season, when he didn’t have to do that, he could have gone back to Man City. I think he is a player who has fallen in love with the right shade of blue but ultimately he is a Manchester City player at the moment, we need to respect that.
“All I do know is that the supporters and the team embraced him, treated him as if he was one of our own, and that gave us a very good platform to have a longer term conversation with him but at the moment, as you have seen - the most important thing is he is back, he is fit, he had a very serious injury, he has worked really hard to get back from that so I was delighted to see that he got some minutes at the Community Shield at the weekend.”
Sunderland's 3-1 victory over Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium in the penultimate game of last season helped them qualify for Europe at the expense of their opponents.
