Enzo Maresca did not close the door on Jack Grealish, but Manchester City have made the summer story harder to ignore by leaving him out of the Asia tour. Grealish is in the final year of his contract, has not played since January after an injury during his loan spell with Everton, and is now back in Mallorca while City prepare to fly out.
Maresca's wording on Grealish
Maresca’s exact line was careful. “At the moment, he's here. He's a Man City player. I always said the same.” He added: “Jack is here. I have a good relation with Jack since I left. Also, we keep in touch.” The key part is the ending, not the comfort he offers along the way: “And then we see what happens.”
That is not a promise of a long-term stay, and it is not a clean push toward a sale either. It is a manager leaving space for a decision that City have not dressed up as settled.
Why the tour omission matters
City’s Asia trip includes Inter Milan in Hong Kong, the K-League All-Stars and Atletico Madrid in South Korea, so this is not a minor training miss. Grealish has been left at home while the rest of the squad heads out for a trip that usually tells you plenty about who is in the plan.
The injury context also matters. Grealish has not played since January, and David Moyes said the surgeon thinks his foot is healing greatly. Moyes also said Everton have enjoyed having him on loan for a year, while making clear that he remains City’s player.
His last five Premier League appearances for Everton produced a 6.8 average rating, 378 minutes and two goal contributions. Those are not the numbers of a player drifting out of relevance. They are the numbers of someone whose season was interrupted before the club picture had been settled.
For now, the clearest read is that City are not rushing to frame this as routine squad management. Maresca has kept the language open, but the tour omission and the final year of the contract point in the same direction. The next concrete marker is whether Grealish is still part of City’s group when the season starts to take shape.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →
