Grealish has been quick to establish himself as a hero among the Everton faithful after playing a significant role in their bright start to the 2025-26 campaign. The 30-year-old has been back to his creative best by driving David Moyes’ side to seven points from a possible 15 with victories over Brighton and Wolves, alongside a draw against former side Aston Villa.
The switch to Merseyside has led Grealish to “feel the love again” for football after going through a difficult period at City last season. The England international made just 20 league appearances in 2024-25 with 13 coming as a substitute in a campaign which saw him fall out of favour under manager Pep Guardiola.
However Grealish, who has often found himself in the newspapers for enjoying the nightlife, insists while he could have chosen better times to attend parties as a City player, he believes his spell at the club was a successful one. Grealish made 157 appearances in all competitions under Guardiola's stewardship, winning the treble in 2022-23.
In an interview with his former Villa boss Tim Sherwood on Sky Sports, Grealish said: “People go, 'he likes to go out, he likes to party' - and I do. I want to be able to live my life as well and enjoy myself, but there's a time and a place to do that.
"I'll be honest with you, I probably haven't picked the right times - sometimes at City, for example, I didn't help myself at times, I'll openly say that - but then I don't think it was all down to that.
“People say to me, 'what happened at City?' But I had two good years there. The first year I was getting used to everything, going there for that amount of money, the pressure and just getting used to the way the manager wanted to play and the environment. The second year we won the treble and it was an unbelievable year. I loved it. The third year, I put that down to myself really and I feel like I didn't do certain things right in that year.”
Opening up about his move to Everton, Grealish added: "People were saying to me, 'what are you doing going to Everton', and I was like, 'what do you mean?'. It's a massive club.
"I'm at my best when I feel loved. You know I'm quite vulnerable off the pitch and I wanted to go somewhere to just feel the love again, and to just wake up and want to play with a smile on my face again.
"Obviously people have a perception of me, but there's nothing I love doing more than playing football. Whether that's on the training field, I just love playing football.”
Grealish will be hoping to continue his and Everton’s solid start to the season when they entertain West Ham at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Monday. The Blues are aiming to respond following their disappointing 2-0 defeat against Wolves in the third round of the Carabao Cup in midweek. Moyes’ men will come up against a new-look West Ham following the appointment of manager Nuno Espirito Santo after Graham Potter was dismissed earlier on Saturday.
