Aston Villa journalist Ashley Preece has been sharing his thoughts on the future of Jack Grealish at Villa Park.
This comes after Preece made an appearance on a recent Q&A episode of the Birmingham Mail’s Claret & Blue Podcast where he answered a range of questions concerning Dean Smith’s side.
On the subject of Grealish and his future at Villa, which has been the subject of speculation in recent weeks with fellow Premier League club Manchester City reportedly interested in signing him this summer, Preece had this to say on the matter. (6.42)
He said: “Knowing Jack and his mannerisms, I think he wants to prove a point again – ‘I’m the best player in this group here, I’m going to show you,’ so I think that’s a good prospect for Villa next season.
“He wants to announce himself again. I think he wants to have a full campaign, 38 games, he hasn’t done that in a long old while, so yeah, I think that bodes well for Villa.
“I think, it’s only a short career, he turns 26 in September I think he’s coming into his prime years now, it’s kick-on time, I think Villa are going to benefit tenfold from that.
“I think he’s going to lead them to Europe, I can see that happening. Everyone knows what a quality player Jack is, and I think he wants to prove that with Villa, he had the odd snub with England but I think we’re in for a really big season in terms of numbers and overall contribution from Jack and I think that’s in a Villa shirt.”
Grealish, who is a product of Villa’s youth system, made his senior debut for the club back in 2014 during a 4-0 Premier League defeat against Manchester City after completing a loan spell at Notts County.
TIF Thoughts on Ashley Preece’s comments on Grealish and his future at Villa Park…
Overall, the 25-year-old, who is currently valued at £58.5 million according to Transfermarkt, has made a total of 213 appearances for Villa across all competitions, in which he has racked up 32 goals and 43 assists in the process (per Transfermarkt).
With recent reports claiming that Villa are “confident” about tying the Englishman down to a new contract this summer that would reportedly take his salary above £150,000-a-week, to ward off any interest from Pep Guardiola’s side, even though he put pen to paper on a five-year deal last year, this shows just how much they want to keep him at Villa Park.
Are you confident Jack Grealish will stay at Villa this summer?
Yes
No
In our view, if the club can convince Grealish to pledge his future with Villa once again with their ambitions to take the club into the upper echelons of European football, this would be a massive positive for the club, based on what he’s already given for the club on the pitch.
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