How Everton fell in love with Jack Grealish: The secret late-night phone call, a trick question from David Moyes and the hidden moments that wowed his new team-mates

It was late in the evening on Monday, August 11 when Angus Kinnear, Everton’s impressive new chief executive, looked at his watch and felt a sinking feeling.

In a world as unpredictable as football, there are no such things as set hours and Kinnear was in a situation at work that simply had to be resolved. He’d planned on leaving Finch Farm, the club’s training base, to be back in time to see his son before bedtime but it wasn’t going to be possible.

Kinnear explained to those present that he needed to be excused for a moment, as he had to make the kind of phone call every father dreads. There’s never an easy way to tell your children you are breaking a promise and won’t see them until morning.

One of those in the room, however, felt compelled to intervene. It was, he insisted, only right he should make the call, as he was the reason Kinnear was away from his family. So he asked for the phone and took control of the situation, dialling through on FaceTime.

Soon a disbelieving young boy would be on the end of the line and all thoughts of a temporarily absent parent were removed immediately.

‘Hello mate!’ chirped the unmistakeable tones of Jack Grealish, peering into the screen with that infectious smile. ‘I’m sorry your dad’s going to be late but we’re just finishing this off - I’m about to sign for Everton.’

Phones are crucial to the story of how Everton were able to pull off one of the best transfer deals of the summer window. Plenty will take issue with it being regarded as a coup, the perception of Grealish being that his career has started sliding on a downward trajectory.

How could the common consensus not be that way? Grealish had cost Manchester City £100million four years ago, English football’s first nine-figure fee. He’d been a key influence in their march to the Treble in 2023, a multiple Premier League champion, but now he was being bounced out on loan.

It’s crucial to understand that Grealish had not actively agitated to leave the Etihad Stadium. He realised the situation wasn’t as it should be and he spoke to Pep Guardiola about what he should do for this season, whether it would be best to stay in Manchester or move on.

There was interest brewing from clubs in Europe. Napoli, having recruited his old friend Kevin De Bruyne, would have taken Grealish in a flash. Fellow Champions League side Atletico Madrid were watching the situation from afar and considering whether to make a move.

Grealish, though, wasn’t going to decide on anything until he had heard what Guardiola had to say. Should I stay or should I go? The manager’s answer was unusually non-committal, the ball placed firmly in the England international’s court.

If Guardiola wants someone on his team, he will bend over backwards and give them whatever they need to succeed. Grealish had benefited from this in January 2023, after the World Cup, when a heart-to-heart with the Catalan sparked his best form and a starburst of silverware.

Now there was indifference. If he wanted to stay, he could stay, Guardiola intimated. But if he wanted to go, he could go.

Soon, clarity arrived. Grealish’s phone began to buzz and David Moyes was waiting to talk.

Moyes loves working with top footballers, he always has done. He’s 62 now but he bounds around as enthusiastically as he did 20 years ago; he’s a rare breed in that being in football for so long has never changed his values or his expectations: his trust is hard-earned and he won’t ever make promises.

So the call he had with Grealish in early June might have come as something of a surprise. Moyes knows how to sell Everton and he was bursting with enthusiasm when he explained about the potential of the shimmering new Hill Dickinson Stadium and the adulation he would receive there.

But then the tone changed. There were no frothy platitudes, no attempts to massage an ego: Moyes put it to Grealish in no uncertain terms that if he signed for Everton, there was no guarantee he was going to be starting every week. This was a situation that came without any sugarcoating.

Was it risky? No chance. Moyes would have known immediately if Grealish was for him. He goes deep into a potential new signing’s background and wants to know what makes them tick – he scouted Joleon Lescott 27 times before signing him in 2005 – and this was going to be a test.

If Grealish had pulled a face or expressed any kind of reservations, stumps would have been drawn there and then. You might have expected him to do that, too, as some of you will have the perception that he’s brash, loves a night out and does what he pleases without a second’s thought.

Not a bit of it. Grealish is still just 'Jack from Solihull', never happier than when he feels welcome, never more comfortable than when he has chance to play football. Moyes got all the encouragement he needed, Grealish was given droves of reassurance. The deal had effectively been sealed.

‘We know he can be "a lad" but he is a really good lad,’ Moyes explained. ‘There was a lot of thought that went into it. I was wondering to myself: “are we getting a Jack Grealish who is maybe on the way down? Will he not be able to perform again?” That was a big consideration for us.

‘But after the conversation with him – and I think sometimes it is good if you feel you have something to prove – you could sense he had it burning inside him and he wanted to do well.’

Still, Grealish did some background work of his own. He had spoken at different times to Jordan Pickford, with whom he has been in England squads for the last five years, and people around the scene who he trusts and know about Everton. He has some friends who are dyed-in-the-wool Blue.

There was also an informative call to a friend who was on the cusp of making the same move. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Grealish had never been team-mates but their social circles had overlapped and they had developed a bond – a bond that would become hugely significant.

Dewsbury-Hall completed his own move, from Chelsea, on August 6 and Grealish wanted to know what his first impressions were of the new place. There is a telling smile from the 27-year-old when he is asked who made contact with who first.

‘He dropped me a little message and said how is it?’ Dewsbury-Hall explains. ‘I just said to him: “Get yourself down here mate!” Now we’re playing together, hopefully he thinks it’s a good decision. He’s a top lad and it’s nice to actually play with him at last.

‘We both felt it was the right time for a new challenge. I’ve known Jack a long while and I know what he’s like. He wants to play every week and show people what he’s about. I'm the same. We’re on the same wavelength and the manager gives us the confidence to go and express ourselves.’

How that has shown. Nobody is getting carried away at Everton, least of all Moyes, but the early signs have been enormously encouraging with the attacking trident of Grealish, Dewsbury-Hall and Iliman Ndiaye flourishing in wins against Brighton and Wolves.

The game at Molineux, in particular, felt like a moment for the club and, specifically, of the fans. It is impossible to overstate just how much they have wanted a superstar to idolise every week – they wanted it to be James Rodriguez five years ago but the pandemic robbed them of that opportunity.

Now Grealish has come in and created more goals in his last 180 minutes (four) than he did in his previous two Premier League campaigns for City (two) and you can tell the affection for him has taken him by surprise. He will be festooned with it today, again, when his old club Aston Villa visit.

After that 3-2 victory, one supporter was so enamoured with his efforts that he wrapped him in a hug that Grealish told Daily Mail Sport felt 'like a UFC chokehold!' after he had walked over to give one of his shirts to a child in the crowd.

‘The reception he got that day was as good as anything I have heard for an Everton player over all my time, going back to my really early days,’ said Moyes. ‘It was top notch. But you have to earn that with Evertonians. You don’t just get that. He has earned it.’

Another shirt from the game had been requested by David Moller Wolfe, Wolves’ Norwegian defender, who waited outside Everton’s dressing room for 15 minutes to shake hands with Grealish – safe to say he never expected him to come to the door in just a pair of underpants and sliders.

Wolfe made a point of telling him how well he had played and, as the pair chatted, Pickford came out. He didn’t have time to hang around but the goalkeeper wanted to make a quick point before heading for home.

‘How good is Jack, by the way?’ Pickford asked. The question didn’t need a response. It has been the same when speaking to any of his new team-mates, with club captain Seamus Coleman enamoured with his work rate and the way he has fitted in – 'unbelievable,' is his assessment.

Clearly, there is plenty to be excited about and why not, with him becoming just the 10th Everton player to win the Premier League’s Player of the Month award yesterday - Dewsbury-Hall surprised him with the award in a makeshift presentation - and you know there will be more to come, as last week Moyes gave him some rigorous running sessions at Finch Farm to get up to speed.

Much more of this and they will be talking about whether Grealish, who was drawn to Everton as he didn’t have to uproot his young family from their home in Cheshire, will be able to stay here full time – Everton are adamant it wouldn’t cost anywhere near the £50m figure that has been mooted.

‘Hey, that award (player of the month) is a big thing,’ said Moyes. ‘He didn’t get it when he was at Aston Villa; he didn’t get it when he was with Manchester City. It just shows you that he is stepping back up.

'And, let me tell you, I genuinely think he’s got another two or three levels to go.

‘He’s got more to come. I want to keep pushing him and I want to see if he can continue to do it. He’s been assisting and I want him to score goals now. But I am really pleased with him. He has looked after himself and he’s got that accolade.

'It definitely looks like Jack is back again.’