Villa supporters are currently being made to watch a media feeding frenzy on Jack Grealish, as 20-odd ‘Grealish to Spurs’ stories a day are churned out with differing headlines. He’s staying, he’s going, he’s told his teammates he’s off, Chelsea are coming in to steal him from Spurs, blah, blah, blah.
Remember how the media sensationalised the ‘will Grealish play for England or Ireland’ story? At that time he’d hardly played any first team games for Villa, so who really gave a damn? Yet, it was still clickbait a go-go for weeks.
Like the principle of governments maintaining perpetual wars to financially gain from them, the media will keep stories warm to keep the clicks coming. This Grealish/Spurs story has rolled on for months now, yet the only fact that has been reported so far is there have actually been NO bids from Spurs.
Look at the Evening Standard article that has been the basis of many of yesterday’s articles on Grealish.
It starts:
‘Tottenham believe they are close to agreeing a deal with Aston Villa for midfielder Jack Grealish.
Villa are likely to reject an opening bid of around £20million for the 21-year-old but Spurs are expected to reach an agreement with the cash-strapped Championship club before next week’s transfer deadline.’
Er…Spurs believe they are close to agreeing a deal…yet they haven’t even made the opening bid, that ‘Villa are likely to reject’.
This article contradicts itself from the off and is trying to predict the future rather than offer up anything concrete to its readers.
Grealish may well go to Spurs, but at the moment, the actual evidence for the move wouldn’t stand up in court.
So, what’s the reality and expectation?
Reality
Well, at the beginning of last week, despite the news of Villa’s fresh investment, if you spoke to anyone at the club, that’d tell you they expected Grealish to probably go. That feeling loosened a little though once the new owners actually visited the club and the EFL made favourable noises about Villa’s financial situation.
If you want other clues, look at what else has been happening to other players.
Woodburn
The fact that Villa let Liverpool’s Ben Woodburn slip was potentially a small clue. Liverpool normally have clauses when they loan their young players out stipulating a number of required games they need to play. It has been reasoned that’s why he eventually ended up at Sheffield United. Now if Grealish was definitely off, maybe Woodburn would have been more confident of getting good game time at Villa?
Onomah
Also, watch out for the movements of Josh Onomah. He’s the man Villa bought in to cover Grealish’s injury last season. Now, Onomah and Grealish would be in direct competition at Spurs. If Onomah leaves Spurs first, then it maybe an alert to potential movement on Grealish. If Grealish isn’t going anywhere, then Spurs would more than likely keep him.
There’s the thinking Onomah maybe used as a make-weight loan to Villa in any Grealish deal, but since Spurs have invested in him already, wouldn’t they back him at the moment, instead of shelling out around £30m on another young player instead?
Chester
James Chester’s recent quotes have been used to push the agenda that Grealish is on his way out and that Villa fans shouldn’t begrudge him that, but the following quote by Chester hasn’t been given top billing:
“It would be sad to see him go and I don’t know if he will now that the ownership of the club has changed.”
As MOMS has concluded before, Grealish doesn’t have the kind of match winning stats in terms of goals and assists to give him serious proven ‘wow factor’ for a team with the current ambition of Spurs. It’s unlikely he’ll burst into their first XI at this stage and give them a boost in trying to win the Premier League or Champions League.
Spurs won’t be too desperate to enlist his services now and likewise, with new owner investment, Villa aren’t as desperate to sell him in this window.
The winter window in January, may provide Spurs with a better chance to squeeze Villa harder in terms of price, as it’s the last window the club can tackle their FFP situation in.
Also, if Villa aren’t challenging the top of the Championship at the end of this year, then Grealish himself may feel it’s time to move on.
UTV
Yes, it’s finally here… new podcast episode:
Grealish has been poor for us apart from the last 6 months. He is now an excellent player. I think he owes the club another 6 months at least before jumping ship. He could leave us in a great position in January.
Another comment now that the embargo has been lifted on our neighbours it’s about time the talking stopped and some action started regarding new signings, I think it’s time to forget Snoddy it’s clear he wants to stay at West Ham and to be honest I think we could save the money and play
De Laet in that position last time that happened he was our stand out player and MOM also we have to do something and quickly about our striker situation, can’t see apart from Green where our goals are coming from. just two days to go before our first match and nothing has happened, the thing is as we all know a good start is a must, let’s not go down the same road as last season.
I think the other big clue that he is staying is the number of minutes played in pre season friendlies. If he was going then i think bruce would of played a player who would be part of the squad for the season.
Yep, it is another clue, but obviously you can’t totally predict the future.
That may well be right but if it is too be at a later date January maybe what will the situation be if we should be top or near of the league, as no one has heard anything from Jack I think it’s a wait and see, I don’t like to see however our own players Chester joining in with the media to determine his future.
Jack would appear to have been given a nudge by Terry that his career is perhaps best pursued in a Premiership club. And various media comments seem to bear that out and that Jack has gone along that line of thinking. But it’s the media we have to listen to, so we don’t know too much, do we?
Importantly, I’m sure that Jack will give his all in the time left before a move, if that is to happen. And as Damien suggests it might be a later ‘window’ when such a thing takes place, giving clubs like Spurs to look at him more closely to see whether he really does have that ‘top’ ability.
The whole Terry narrative is hilarious. Like he’s the only one who knows that a talented player should be playing in the top league. It’s just common sense. But saying that, Grealish could benefit from a full season playing, which at this stage is not guaranteed at Spurs. If I was him, still only 22 and playing for the club I supported, I’d give it another season, because ultimately I’d want to play for Villa in the PL. If Bruce fails this season, then I’d say goodbye, ditch the Villa romanticism and focus on my career.
agree with MOMs