The best stories involve late night private jets and this one illustrates the lengths to which David Moyes will go to gather a jewel.
Jack Grealish will appreciate today how Marouane Fellaini once felt, back in the summer of 2008, and it makes sense here to underline a manager’s ambition for a club and the powerful way he can speak to convince a player to work with him, when other destinations may seem more likely.
Fellaini, the star of a vastly-talented Standard Liege team 17 years ago, had many options across Europe when it became apparent that he was going to leave Belgium behind but Moyes, along with his late Chairman Bill Kenwright, made it his mission to force Everton to the front of the queue.
Still, Deadline Day arrived and, with nothing decided, phone calls continued to be directed to Fellaini’s representatives. Moyes knew what was at stake and that he needed to make a significant gesture. It led to Kenwright commissioning a flight to Brussels from Luton for his manager, who hurtled down the M1, boarded then dashed to meet the midfielder at the airport’s Sheraton Hotel.
Racing against the clock, Moyes walked into the room where Fellaini and his entourage were waiting when his phone rang.
It was Kenwright, wondering whether the mission was going to plan and was on track to be completed.
David Moyes worked his persuasive magic on Marouane Fellaini years ago and Jack Grealish will appreciate how the big Belgian felt
Grealish looked dejected for Manchester City for much of last season and needs a new start
‘Well?’ Kenwright asked, his question borne of a Chairman’s impatience and a fan’s curiosity. ‘What’s he like?’
There was a pause.
‘Big,’ Moyes replied, quietly. ‘He’s big, Bill.’
And so, too, was the dream Moyes sold over the next hour: never mind the other options, just think about Everton – think about the fans, the way they will idolise; think about the platform you will have to thrive if things go well and the environment we have created to help you succeed.
Fellaini listened intently and had no hesitation signing the documents in front of him. Fast forward to now and Grealish, a man who responds to a manager who will put an arm around the shoulder, is about to do the same thing. Moyes, when he wants something, is very persuasive.
Inevitability, there has been some quibbling about Everton signing someone who, this week four years ago, had just been unveiled as English football’s first £100million player on a season-long loan but this transfer makes sense – and, crucially, it has the potential to re-light a fire in Grealish.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say when Everton’s name was first put on his radar, Grealish wasn’t entirely in the camp of ‘love at first sight’. He had options on the continent, headed by Napoli and Atletico Madrid, where Champions League football would have come as part of the package.
Gradually, though, the pieces of the puzzle began to make sense for the England international and Moyes, whose desire to bring in a star name to light up Everton’s magnificent new stadium, went to work and explained what might be possible.
The Scot is a realist and knows where a difficult few years have left Everton. It’s the reason, for example, they signed Thierno Barry for £30million, the France Under-21 striker, from Villarreal rather than getting into the battle for his international colleague Hugo Ekitike at double the price.
‘We are hoping to build Barry up to being a really good player,’ Moyes explained. ‘But, just now, we’re still a work in progress.’
Realism, however, is not a barrier to stop a man from dreaming and Moyes’s ability to project Everton to potential arrivals is second-to-none, as a tale from earlier this summer involving Liam Delap will emphasise.
Delap had decided he was going to Chelsea from Ipswich but, out of courtesy, chose to speak to Moyes after Everton had entered this race late. But the meeting was so compelling and so passionate the young striker, who is represented by the same agency as Grealish, wondered what to do.
Moyes’ pitch to Liam Delap was almost enough to get the striker to change his mind
It was likened, by someone familiar with the discussions, to Clark Kent ripping open his shirt and rather than a ‘S’ being on his chest was a giant blue Everton ‘E’ – Delap had been told about the history, the power of Everton’s number nine shirt and the adulation that commands. It so nearly paid off.
Word spreads in football and Grealish – whose talents are too sumptuous to be left on the sidelines – will have realised that Moyes can be key to helping him get back into the England squad for next summer’s World Cup, having suffered the crushing disappointment of missing Euro 2024.
This won’t be some frothy arrangement where Grealish will be indulged. Moyes doesn’t do that, not for a second. He will have no hesitation in telling someone when they have fallen short of the standards that he expects and his body language on Saturday, after a 1-0 defeat to Roma, was telling.
‘We’ve a lot to do, haven’t we?’ was his brusque reply, when asked about how he felt his squad was looking. ‘But this is a brilliant football ground. It’s a great stadium and hopefully gets to see some really good players and some good teams.’
Why can’t Grealish, who underwent a medical on Monday, be central to the one that Moyes is trying to build? He has had a fantastic time at City, winning more in the last four years than the vast majority win in their careers, and his influence on the Treble campaign shouldn’t be forgotten.
He became a huge part in the second half of that unique season, which was punctuated by the Qatar World Cup, after Pep Guardiola had a meeting with him following a Christmas break in which he spelt out how he felt Grealish could come alive.
Before Qatar, Grealish’s stats were staggering: one goal and no assists. He couldn’t believe the second part of that strand, particularly as Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker had registered more than him. Then came the heart-to-heart and a light was switched.
Grealish won’t be indulged by Moyes and will be expected to work back to his best
There were four goals and 11 assists, a desire to get into the opposition penalty area and make mischief. To see him looking so dejected last season, then, as City’s aura came asunder and Guardiola became an increasingly distant figure, was miserable.
Change, happily, is coming. Grealish has questions to answer and he knows the level of his new team-mates won’t be the same as what he has left behind but that won’t prevent him playing with a smile on his face in front of a crowd that is desperate to be entertained.
When you spend time in company with ‘Jack, the lad from Solihull’, as he will tell you, it’s impossible not to come away smiling.
The same is true for footballers who have an audience with Moyes. It is the reason Grealish’s shirt for this season will change from light to Royal Blue.
