Will he? Won’t he? Is it a deal Aston Villa even wish to explore? Jack Grealish will undoubtedly be a significant topic of debate in this coming summer transfer window, with his future at Manchester City looking to be in doubt.
Grealish left the club four years ago and, while he still has two years remaining on his six-year City deal, the mercurial playmaker isn’t having the same impact at the Etihad, under the watchful Pep Guardiola, as he once did. There have been whispers about his future already.
Newcastle United have become the latest club to be linked with a move for Grealish, who banked Villa £100m when they sold him in 2021 after a couple of years in which he guided them back to the Premier League and then inspired their survival. Might Villa be in for him? Should they be? Our writers have their say…Richard Cusack
Jack Grealish back to Aston Villa? I don’t think it is out of the question. Sentimentally, it fits. Grealish back at Villa having achieved his ultimate goal by winning the titles his talent deserves. He’s also coming toward the end of his time at Manchester City and a move to a club of Villa’s calibre looks likely regardless of past allegiances.
Grealish is still a real talent and would be heading back to a Villa side now looking up rather than battling relegation or fighting for mid-table and he would relish the challenge of a sustained assault on the upper echelons of the Premier League table.
However, there are lots of factors to consider should Grealish make a stunning return to B6 and that would be the sort of transfer fee and contract that Villa would have to agree for the winger. You’ve also got to look at just where he would fit in Unai Emery’s system.
Under Dean Smith, a fellow Villa fan and a manager who really empowered Grealish and thought the world of him, he had free roam pretty much and was able to drift in from the left and play in that ten area. There’s also the dressing room dynamic to consider.
When players leave a team such as Manchester City it is usually to be top dog somewhere else and with that comes wages and responsibility. I don’t think the reaction toward him at the most recent time he came to Villa Park will have any bearing either way. Villa fans were trying to put him off and it worked and Grealish would have understood that.
Mat Kendrick
Should Jack Grealish and his prodigal calves return to their rightful place of Villa Park this summer? As much as I’d love to see it, I really don’t think it will happen. If Villa make Marcus Rashford’s stay permanent, they won’t be able to afford or accommodate Grealish.
Granted, the ‘you’re not Super any more’ brigade are not ready to forgive or forget, and Grealish himself was visibly hurt by the level of stick he got on his most recent return to B6 earlier this season. But time is a great healer, even in football.
And if the Ashley Young who was booed for diving to win penalties for Manchester United against Villa can go from zero to hero, why can’t a lad who still has claret and blue coursing through his veins have his own villain to Villan redemption arc one day?
If Rashford is a no-go, a cheeky enquiry for Super Jack wouldn’t do any harm, in my opinion. I’d rather see him back at Villa or strutting his stuff in Spain rather than having to suffer him wearing the colours of Newcastle United or another Premier League rival.
Joe Chapman
When Jack Grealish signed a six-year contract upon leaving Villa in 2021, I’m not sure too many envisaged a scenario where he would be anything other than a crucial first XI player for Pep Guardiola four years into that period. Some Villans might’ve hoped for a romantic reunion towards the end of Grealish’s career but, having seen his talent first hand, couldn’t have predicted that we’d be discussing a premature exit from Manchester City.
He can have no regrets – the move has brought about silverware in that spell that many football clubs can’t say they’ve won in their history. Whether Man City consider or not that they’ve had value for money – if there’s such a thing when you sign a player for £100m – isn’t Villa’s problem.
There is a feeling that a severing of ties this summer is what is needed firstly for Grealish himself – he needs to get back to doing what he does so well on a weekly basis, and not only against inferior teams in the FA Cup or from the bench in the Premier League. He’s not the same player who left Villa – nor are they the same club who bid him farewell, though.
Finances aside, I just can’t see a scenario where Grealish is playing – and flourishing to the extent he once did – in a Villa shirt any time soon, while Unai Emery is in charge. The freedom he was granted by Dean Smith wouldn’t necessarily remain and on the Smith/Guardiola scale, Emery is nearer his compatriot in terms of approach.
Villa have their current day academy boy done good in Jacob Ramsey, have acquired the exciting talent of Morgan Rogers and have continued to top up the attacking department with quality forwards on loan – who’s to say they won’t sign permanently? I don’t foresee a scenario where Grealish is being unveiled at Bodymoor Heath this summer.
Brian Dick
The prospect of Grealish returning to Aston Villa seems extremely remote.
Having spent most of the season desperate for first team opportunities at Manchester City, it seems logical that he would want his next move to be to a club where he can be more confident of game-time.It doesn’t feel like Villa is that club, with options in attacking positions and a system that is based on speed and moving the ball quickly, Grealish does not fit the bill.
As romantic as the homecoming feels – and as many shirts as Villa might be able to sell with Grealish back on their books, it feels like the club and the player are on different pathways now.
Grealish can certainly go on and play several more seasons in the Premier League but with his England ambitions currently stifled by a lack of minutes, he could well end up having to look towards a mid-table team rather than one pushing for the top four year in year out
