During a recent edition of the ‘Football Social Daily’ podcast, Niall McCaughan, who hosts the podcast, and Mark Critchley of The Independent discussed the possibility of Manchester City making a move for Aston Villa playmaker Jack Grealish.
Grealish has been enjoying an impressive season with relegation-battling Aston Villa in the Premier League this term. While his team currently sit in 19th place on the Premier League table, Grealish has scored seven goals and provided six assists in England’s top-flight for Villa, making him the club’s top goalscorer and top assist provider this season.
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McCaughan raised the topic of the 24-year-old playmaker moving to Manchester City following his impressive performances this season during the latest edition of the Football Social Daily podcast, saying: “We’ve seen his qualities this season for Aston Villa in what’s been a pretty dismal season for them on the whole. He’s been their shining light, he’s been their talisman and as good as he is now, how good could he possibly be under Pep Guardiola’s tutelage?”
Critchley replied to McCaughan by saying: “I totally agree. Grealish is a kind of throwback player, isn’t he? I think people love the romantic kind of ‘socks rolled down’ number ‘10’, he’s just a perfect throwback to that golden age of football isn’t he?”
The journalist went on to say: (35:24) “Guardiola likes him as well, it was back in – they probably played them in December, was it? He said he was one of the best players in the league in a press conference, so he’s obviously a fan of him.”
Would Grealish be a good signing for Manchester City?YES
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TIF Thoughts…
As per the Daily Mail, in the book ‘Pep Guardiola: The Evolution’ the Catalan coach is quoted as saying that his first question when recruiting new players is: “Can this guy dribble?” Considering that Grealish has completed an average of 2.1 successful dribbles per Premier League game this season according to WhoScored, which is more than any current Manchester City player has managed this term, it may not come as a big surprise that the City boss is said to be “a fan” of Grealish, according to Critchley.
Due to the fact that it has recently been announced that City have agreed to sell Leroy Sane to Bavarian giants Bayern Munich (per BBC), that could also open the door for Grealish, who is currently valued at £27.45m according to Transfermarkt and has played most of his games for Villa on the left-wing this season, to move to the Etihad. As a result, it mightn’t be too surprising if Guardiola acts on his alleged interest in the player this summer.