David Moyes insists no decision has been made yet on whether or not Everton will seek to keep Jack Grealish beyond the end of the season.
Grealish’s season-long loan from Manchester City was curtailed by a foot injury in mid-January, but though his campaign is over he has remained at the club – seen as a sign that he wants to make the move permanent this summer.
The Independent understands that while Everton are unlikely to trigger the option to buy him for £50m – which would require a club record transfer fee – Moyes is keen to keep Grealish, with a second loan the likeliest scenario.
However, it is probable nothing will be arranged until after the end of the season, something Moyes reiterated.
“We wouldn’t be making any decision and even if I was I wouldn’t be saying anything at the moment because Jack has had quite a serious operation in his foot so we’ve got to give that time to heal,” Moyes said.
“Jack is here and we love having him around. He’s great company. If you look at the contribution in the 15-20 games he played, he was great and he gave the crowd a lift, and he certainly played a big part in where we’re sitting right now.”
Everton go to Brentford on Saturday looking to take another step towards European qualification against a direct rival. Moyes remains reluctant to discuss it for fear of disappointing fans, but cannot ignore the opportunity following confirmation of at least five Champions League places for the Premier League.
“It’s probably the best chance we’ve had for a long time,” Moyes said. “But the words ‘Champions League’ probably makes me shake a wee bit at the thought of that.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to play in the other competitions quite recently and I know that if we were able to get there, we’d be able to hold our own in certain levels of it. I think the Champions League is a completely different thing to talk about.
“But look, if you said Europe in any competition, if it was the tiddlywinks European competition we got in, we’d be excited about it because Evertonians know we want to get back in amongst it, we want to start getting talked about again.”
Additional reporting from PA