Jack Grealish is 31, his contract at the Etihad expires next summer, and he is spending another season on loan at Everton. On the face of it, that reads like a career winding down. The numbers suggest otherwise.

Of every player to feature for more than 90 minutes in the Premier League this season, Grealish has created the most chances per 90. His four per game sits clear of Rayan Cherki on 3.5, Sávio on 3.4 and Marcus Rashford on 3.3. Whatever picture you had of Grealish drifting through his loan spell, that stat redraws it.

A late deal that never quite felt settled

It seemed, not so long ago, that Enzo Maresca was seriously considering keeping Grealish around for the 2026-27 campaign. That possibility faded. Grealish joined Everton at the 11th hour, a second consecutive loan move to Goodison Park, and the sense from the outside was of a door closing quietly rather than being slammed.

Supporters have not forgotten what he gave the club. Six years is a long time in modern football, and the gratitude for that service has been genuine.

So far this season he has started just twice for David Moyes' side — against Wolves in the Carabao Cup and Ipswich Town in the Premier League — and Everton won both. He has yet to get off the mark in terms of goals, though he managed two goals and six assists last term.

The chance creation is the part that nags. Everton rank 12th in the Premier League for xG created. Grealish, on this evidence, is doing more than his share to lift that number.

City's own uncertainty in the background

All of this unfolds against a backdrop at the Etihad that is anything but straightforward. The club's 114 charges hang over like a dark cloud, and the threat of relegation to the Championship makes planning for next summer much trickier than it would otherwise be.

Keith Wyness has told Football Insider that he believes a 50-point deduction is on the cards. Even that, as he acknowledges, does not guarantee relegation. So the calculations at City remain murky — and a player out on loan, creating chances at a rate nobody in the division can match, is one more variable in a summer that already looks difficult to map.

Grealish's City career may or may not be finished. What is certain is that, right now, he is doing something no one else in the Premier League is doing. That is worth noticing, even from a distance.