Football journalist David Ornstein has been discussing the recent summer transfer window and the previous speculation around Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish and his future at the club.
This comes after Ornstein recently appeared in the latest edition of Ask Ornstein on The Athletic’s Tifo Podcast YouTube channel where he answered a number of questions surrounding a range of Premier League clubs.
One question that came up in the video was why another club didn’t manage to sign Grealish in the summer, to which Ornstein gave this reply.
He said: “I think many of us would have anticipated him being subject to a really high-profile move in the transfer window. I think you need to consider the impact that [the pandemic] had on the market. It meant that few, if any clubs, were willing to meet Aston Villa’s asking price for Grealish.
“Villa didn’t need or want to sell, they’ve got very wealthy owners and he’s their captain. I also think some of those clubs still had reservations about that level of spending on this particular player and also whether he’s the real deal, which it’s starting to look like he is.
“I think Villa would have been sympathetic to the situation if a suitable offer had arrived, and I think Grealish would have looked to explore it had a Champions League club come in, had they put their money where their mouth is, and had they shown him that he was their number-one target. That didn’t happen.”
Grealish made his senior debut for Villa back in 2014 during the club’s 4-0 defeat to Manchester City when the Englishman was just 18-years-old.
Overall, the 25-year-old, who is currently valued at £40.5 million, has made a total of 195 appearances for Villa in which he has scored 30 goals and provided 36 assists.
Throughout the previous summer transfer window, both Manchester clubs were linked with a move for Grealish, who eventually signed a new deal at Villa that will now keep him at the club until 2025.
Do you think Villa would have let Grealish leave in the summer?
Yes, if the right offer was there
No, not at all
TIF Thoughts on David Ornstein’s comments on Grealish…
Listening to what Ornstein had to say on the matter, it appears that Villa would have considered letting Grealish leave if the right offer was made to the club in the summer, which ultimately didn’t arrive.
Considering how Grealish was Villa’s standout performer last season with a season rating of 7.23/10 and has started this campaign on the same track with a current rating of 8.18/10 (per WhoScored), perhaps clubs will now regret not taking a chance on the midfielder, while the fact that he is now tied down to the club for the next few years could yet help Villa in the long run if they can now potentially sell him for a higher fee than they would’ve done otherwise – or even keep for the duration of his contract.
In our view, Grealish has shown since the start of last season that he is a superb player that can perform to a high quality in the Premier League and it came as no surprise that the two Manchester clubs had shown interest in him.