Jack Grealish is in the final year of his reported £300,000-a-week contract at Manchester City.

He was discarded by Pep Guardiola in the Spaniard's final season in charge, being allowed to join Everton on a season-long loan deal.

There were moments where he looked to be getting back to his best while playing for the Toffees before his foot injury.

Such was his form at the beginning of last season, he claimed the Premier League's player-of-the-month award for August and quickly became a fans' favourite.

"He is a player who has fallen in love with the right shade of blue, but ultimately he is a City player and we have to respect that," Everton chief executive Angus Kinnear told BBC Radio Merseyside this August.

"What I do know is that the supporters and the team embraced him and treated him as one of our own. That gave us a good platform to have a longer term conversation with him.

"The most important thing is that he is back fit after he had a serious injury, so I was delighted to see him get some minutes in the Community Shield."

Grealish impressed to such an extent last season that Everton boss David Moyes openly spoke about how much the player was "loved" at the club.

The mood, however, appears to have changed.

At a time when Moyes is relying on all his senior players to step up after a disappointing summer transfer window left his squad thin, there are now questions about whether Grealish's breach of club discipline will be the beginning of the end of his career at Everton.

Grealish missed last Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Arsenal with illness and, according to reports, missed training on Monday without permission.

He returned to training at Everton's Finch Farm complex but is expected to be fined for his unauthorised absence.

Grealish has 39 England caps and has scored four goals for his country.

He has not played for the Three Lions since scoring in a 3-1 Nations League win against Finland in Helsinki in 2024.

Everton, who have not won a major trophy since 1995, did not need him as they brushed past Newcastle to reach the last eight of the EFL Cup.

While Moyes refused to go into details about the breach of discipline, he did praise the players on duty on Thursday for not allowing Grealish's absence to distract them in what was an important cup tie.

"The one thing about Everton is that it has got good values behind it," added Moyes.

"All the players stand up to the values on pitch and off the pitch.

"The players did a brilliant job tonight.

"We are limited in some areas but we are doing our best to keep challenging."