Jack Grealish Could Be About To Cost Everton Huge Sum in Nightmare Scenario

Jack Grealish's injury absence could effectively cost Everton a huge sum of money during the second half of the Premier League season.

Grealish has been one of Everton's star players this season since his arrival on loan from Manchester City, scoring two goals and contributing six assists in 20 Premier League appearances.

The 30-year-old has created a new dimension to the Toffees' attack, having been given more tactical freedom by Everton manager David Moyes than he was under Pep Guardiola at City.

Everton have a £50 million option to buy Grealish at the end of his loan spell this summer, though it has been reported that the Toffees would look to re-negotiate that figure if a permanent transfer becomes a possibility.

It remains to be seen whether Everton push forward with that plan after it was announced following Sunday's 1-0 win over Aston Villa that Grealish had suffered a foot injury.

Fabrizio Romano reported on Wednesday morning that the winger could miss up to 12 weeks with a suspected stress fracture.

As part of his summer move from City, Everton agreed to pay a significant amount of Grealish's weekly wages.

The Athletic reported that the figure stood at 'three-quarters' of Grealish's £300,000-per-week wage at City, which would equate to £225,000.

Spread over his potential 12-week injury lay-off, it means that Everton, in a worst-case scenario, would be paying Grealish £2.7 million without him being available to play.

Of course, such an outlay is common when high-earning players get injured - except in the case of when the injury is suffered on international duty.

FIFA's Club Protection Programme (CPP) allows clubs to apply for compensation when players suffer an injury while playing for their country.

• If you want to see even more from SPORTbible, make us a preferred source on Google.

FIFA's framework means that world football's governing body will completely match a player's salary as part of the scheme, up to £120,000-per-week.

In a hypothetical case for Grealish, Everton would still have to pick up the remainder of the England winger's wages, though would at least be partly compensated.

The injury will likely put paid to Grealish's hopes of getting back into the England squad ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

He hasn't been selected by manager Thomas Tuchel since the German took charge in January 2025, and was a surprise absentee from the most recent squad in November despite his impressive start to life at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.