Matt Maher: For once, cards are stacked in Aston Villa’s favour on Jack Grealish future
As sure as night follows day, so the appearance on the distant horizon of the summer transfer window sees Jack Grealish touted for a move away from Villa.
Manchester City this week became the first club to be credited with a serious interest, with their boss Pep Guardiola known to be among the 25-year-old’s long-time admirers.
Villa supporters have long come to accept speculation over Grealish’s future each summer as inevitable and that situation was never going to change, after a season which already ranked as the best of his career even before the injury which has seen him miss the last six Premier League matches.
Yet any fans fearing this year might finally be the one which sees their talisman depart can find comfort in the fact their club is in a pretty solid position whatever the next few months might bring.
This is a very different situation to 2018, when Grealish was on the brink of joining Tottenham before Villa were saved from administration by the arrival of Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens. It is a long way even from last year, when relegation would have seen Villa lose their skipper for a fee some way short of his market value.
Grealish’s decision last September to sign a new five-year contract, coupled with the vast wealth of Sawiris and Edens, immediately gives Villa a strong hand.
In a market hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, they are among the few clubs operating from a position of financial strength and have no desire or need to sell their most prized asset. Anyone wanting to buy Grealish will need to pay a fee north of £100million.
City, of course, are a club with the requisite financial clout but they have other interests too and a move for Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland, another player likely to cost nine figures, might be considered a greater priority due to Sergio Aguero’s impending departure.
Other than City, the pool of suitors who could actually afford Grealish in the current climate is pretty thin, both in the Premier League and on the continent.
Grealish’s importance to Dean Smith’s team has been highlighted by recent results and Villa’s overwhelming preference will be to continue building a squad around their captain capable of a sustained assault on the top six next season.
With the summer window still two months away, quite what will happen is anyone’s guess. But it is Villa who, when it arrives, will still be holding most of the cards.
