Sport
Man City transfer too good to resist for Jack Grealish
On 15 September 2020, all the speculation was brought to a shuddering halt. Jack Grealish had been linked for several weeks with a big-money transfer to Manchester United, who were looking to bolster Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad ahead of a possible Premier League title tilt. But there would be no transfer request or agent-driven stories about Grealish’s desire to join United. Instead, less than a week before Aston Villa’s first game of the season, the club captain signed a new five-year deal with his boyhood club.
“I am delighted to make this commitment to Villa,” Grealish told the club’s official website. “It is my club, my home and I am very happy here. The owners have made it very clear to me how ambitious they are and how they want to build Aston Villa. There are exciting times ahead and I am very glad to be part of it.”
Eleven months on and Jack Grealish is once again the subject of interest from a club in Manchester but this time it is Manchester City who are pursuing a transfer for the England international. The Premier League champions have submitted an offer of £100m and will likely learn whether or not it has been accepted this week. Grealish is due back at training at Villa on Monday and will no doubt be making his intentions known to Dean Smith and the club’s hierarchy.
Although a move to the Etihad Stadium is looking increasingly likely, Villa fans will still hope for a late U-turn. Grealish, they will argue, is not guaranteed to be a regular starter at City, where he will be competing for game time with the likes of Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus. He will certainly not have the luxury of the whole team being built around him as it is at Villa.
Grealish clearly loves the club he has played for since the age of six. Back then, had he been offered the chance to play professionally for Villa for an entire career, he would have gladly taken it. And perhaps he is still tempted to follow in the footsteps of Matt Le Tissier, who continually rejected offers to leave Southampton, or Alan Shearer, who chose his boyhood club of Newcastle United over a Manchester United team that was better placed to win trophies.
Doing so would be a mistake, however. A player of Grealish’s talent needs to be playing Champions League football and competing for silverware year in, year out. It is true that he will not play every week at City, but his game will improve under the guidance of Guardiola. There will be more minutes to go around too, with City competing in Europe and expected to go deep in the FA Cup and League Cup.
There is a tendency in situations like this to assume that the chance of a transfer will be available to Jack Grealish every year. Why not stay for one more season at Villa, some might argue, and then seek pastures new in 2022?
Football does not always work that way, though. A dip in form or a series of injuries would make Grealish less desirable to suitors next summer. By then City might have moved onto the next target.
Joining the Premier League champions should not jeopardise Grealish’s standing with the Villa fans, who will surely understand the England international’s reasons for departing, should be choose to do so. Villa have strengthened well with Emi Buendia and Leon Bailey, and would be able to sign one or two more players with the rest of the £100m from City.
The ball is in Grealish’s court. Villa would love their star man to stay but will not stand in his way if he wants to leave. A transfer to Manchester City, to work under one of the greatest managers in football history, is surely too good to turn down for Jack Grealish.
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