Ex-Liverpool player and current ESPN pundit Steve Nicol joined Alexis Nunes to discuss Aston Villa following the final day of the 2019/20 Premier League season when Villa confirmed their safety in England’s top-flight for the 2020/21 campaign.
This discussion was shared by ESPN UK on YouTube and one of the topics that the pair touched on during their conversation about the Birmingham-based club is the future of Jack Grealish.
It may be fair to say that Grealish was Aston Villa’s best player during the 2019/20 season. As per WhoScored, the playmaker provided 14 goal contributions for Dean Smith’s side last season, which means that he played a direct role in more than one-third of Villa’s Premier League goals that term. The Englishman also earned a higher average overall rating than any other Villa player for the 2019/20 campaign.
Grealish has been linked with a move away from Villa Park recently, with Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, and Manchester City all said to be interested in securing the playmaker’s signature, however, while discussing the 24-year-old’s future with Nunes, Nicol shared that he believes Grealish might stay at Villa Park for “one more season.”
Here is what the pundit had to say about Grealish’s future: “I think it matters that he’s actually a homeboy, and I think it matters that he’s grown up at Villa and if it’s down to him, anyway, I think that might sway him to stay in one more season, just to maybe try and solidify Villa.
“Of course, again, it depends on, if they do get an offer, how big it is – because Villa clearly will have to strengthen, and they need money to strengthen. So, it’s kind of a combination of things. If the money’s correct, then he’ll probably go, but if it comes down to him, I’ve got a little sneaky – unless it’s a Liverpool or a team like that – I’ve got a little sneaky that he might stay another season.”
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Considering how significant of a role Grealish played for Villa during the 2019/20 season, it may be fair to say that Villa fans may be pleased by Nicol’s view on the playmaker’s future.
However, if reports are correct in saying that the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, and Spurs are all interested in tempting Grealish away from Villa Park this summer, then the Birmingham-based club may still have a job on their hands to ward off the alleged interest from those parties this summer, even though, as Nicol explained, the 24-year-old has been an Aston Villa player for the entirety of his career thus far, bar a loan spell with Notts County, and may have some sentimental feelings towards the club.