Grealish dropped over 'breach of club discipline' - what now?

David Moyes says it was the club's decision to leave Jack Grealish out of Everton's Carabao Cup win over Newcastle United because of "a breach of club discipline".

"You probably know I'm not going to give any details," said Moyes after Everton's 3-1 win at Hill Dickinson Stadium set up a quarter-final tie at League Two Fleetwood Town.

Moyes made it clear he supported the decision to leave out England winger Grealish, 31, who is on loan from Premier League rivals Manchester City.

Grealish spent a large chunk of last season with the Toffees under a similar arrangement, scoring twice and providing six assists in 20 appearances, before sustaining a season-ending foot injury in January.

The former Aston Villa player, who cost City £100m in 2021, also featured as a substitute during their 2-1 win over Bournemouth on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

Grealish also played in Everton's EFL Cup third-round win over Wolves.

Grealish is in the final year of his reported £300,000-a-week contract at Manchester City.

There were moments where he looked to be getting back to his best while playing for the Toffees before his foot injury.

Such was his form at the beginning of last season, he claimed the Premier League's player-of-the-month award for August and quickly became a fans' favourite.

"He is a player who has fallen in love with the right shade of blue, but ultimately he is a City player and we have to respect that," Everton chief executive Angus Kinnear told BBC Radio Merseyside in August.

"What I do know is that the supporters and the team embraced him and treated him as one of our own. That gave us a good platform to have a longer term conversation with him.

"The most important thing is that he is back fit after he had a serious injury, so I was delighted to see him get some minutes in the Community Shield."

The mood, however, appears to have changed.

At a time when the Everton boss is relying on all his senior players to step up after a disappointing summer transfer window left his squad thin, there are now questions about whether Grealish's breach of club discipline will be the beginning of the end of his career at Everton.

He returned to training at Everton's Finch Farm complex but is expected to be fined for his unauthorised absence.

He has not played for the Three Lions since scoring in a 3-1 Nations League win against Finland in Helsinki in 2024.

Everton, who have not won a major trophy since 1995, did not need him as they brushed past Newcastle to reach the last eight of the EFL Cup.

While Moyes refused to go into details about the breach of discipline, he did praise the players on duty on Thursday for not allowing Grealish's absence to distract them in what was an important cup tie.

"We are limited in some areas but we are doing our best to keep challenging."