Italian media issue scathing attack on Manchester City’s Jack Grealish after Everton loan | OneFootball

Jack Grealish has received a scathing assessment from Italian media after he opted to join Everton on loan from Manchester City amid talk of Napoli interest this summer.

Grealish has joined Everton on loan for the 2025-26 campaign from Manchester City, with the Toffees set to cover 75% of the 29-year-old’s wages, which are understood to be north of £300,000-per-week, for the duration of the loan.

After making just seven starts in the Premier League last season, Grealish has decided to join forces with David Moyes in Merseyside as he looks to stake a claim in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Since signing from Aston Villa for £100 million, Grealish has won three Premier League titles and a UEFA Champions League title in a four-year spell that has divided opinion amongst the Manchester City fanbase over whether the returns have justified the financial outlay made to secure the Englishman’s services in 2021.

Grealish starred for Manchester City in their historic, treble-winning 2022-23 campaign but two seasons on the bounce where he remained in and out of Pep Guardiola’s preferred starting XI for various reasons, there is a wider acceptance that a parting ways would benefit all this summer.

It is also believed that Grealish has come to terms with the fact that his Manchester City career is effectively over as he now embarks upon an exciting, new chapter for the next 12 months, with his England career well and truly on the line.

Now, a new report from Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport’s Riccardo Pratesi has issued a scathing assessment on Jack Grealish after the England international opted to select Everton as his new loan club amid interest from Napoli in particular throughout the summer.

“Italian clubs have dodged a bullet. A talent who would have been a fish out of water in Serie A,” Pratesi wrote.

“At Napoli with Conte, for me, he would have been a disaster: he’s not a player with pace or pace, but with technique, who slows down the game instead of immediately going vertical.”

The newspaper continued by also issuing a largely damning assessment of a cross-town icon in Manchester, “The analogy with Manchester United legend George Best is stark. While Best was known for his off-field excesses as much as his on-field brilliance, Grealish appears to have taken a similar path.

“Grealish’s recent appearances in pubs across England, drinking and socialising with fans, are reminiscent of Gazza’s behaviour. Behaviour that, in the past, preceded a decline.

“Today, stories about Grealish aren’t about his exploits on the pitch, but about his Ibiza holidays and nights out,” as translated and relayed by Sport Witness.