Frank Lampard believes that Aston Villa hit the nail on the head when they blocked Jack Grealish’s move to Tottenham this summer.
The Villa ever-present was “disappointed” that a move was not greenlighted by the Villa top brass in the transfer window – however, Lampard thinks that remaining at Villa Park will only help the attacking midfielder’s progression.
Lampard also praised the way in which Villa were able to retain the services of their midfield maestro, despite the fact that a Premier League club were after him.
“The fact they were able to keep him when he was so wanted by a Premier League club,” he said, as quoted by the Birmingham Mail.
“It was probably the best move for Jack in terms of his progression.”
OPINION
Even though Grealish was gutted that move did not materialise, Lampard is right – staying at Aston Villa is the best move that could have been made for his career right now. Some may say that being surrounded by top-quality players – like he would have been at Spurs if made the move – would have made Grealish a better player, but that is not necessarily true. With such a wide range of talent, Grealish may have found himself ousted to the bench more often than not, and this would hardly help his progression. He is still young, so remaining at Villa is the best thing that could have happened. Dean Smith can guarantee him game time week in, week out – and that is how he is going to become a better player. Like Lampard pointed out, it was surprising that Villa were able to keep him out of Tottenham’s grasp – but it does show us how much the club wanted to keep Grealish on the books.