How Tottenham almost signed Jack Grealish
Ex-Tottenham coach Tim Sherwood has revealed how close Jack Grealish came to joining Spurs as a teenager.
Grealish came through the academy at Aston Villa, joining the club as a six-year-old in 2001 before eventually moving to Manchester City 20 years later for a mega fee of £100m. During his time at City Grealish has become a key player under Pep Guardiola, playing 36 games this season for the club.
But the England international previously had opportunities to leave Villa before making the move to Manchester, with Tottenham long being touted as having an interest in his services.
Speaking to talkSPORT, former Spurs coach Sherwood explained how he recommended Grealish to then first-team boss Harry Redknapp after seeing him play an academy game..
“I watched him when he was 16 against Tottenham’s Under-18s," he said.
“I remember going back to the first-team game at White Hart Lane and Redknapp said, ‘Well what was the score?’ I said, ‘I don’t know H, all I was doing was watch this boy Grealish’, it was incredible. I said, ‘[Villa] want to take Jermaine Jenas, we should do a swap for this boy.'”
“Harry, quite rightly, said, ‘He’s only 16, by the time he’s in the first-team I’ll be gone’. As a football manager he’s absolutely right, looking after yourself as you would do.
“But for the club it would’ve been a great move. It would’ve been a great move for Jermaine as he ended up going to Villa [on loan] anyway.”
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How Jack Grealish has performed at Manchester City
Due to the £100m fee, Grealish has been under heavy scrutiny since his move to City.
After a rather inconsistent first 18 months at the Etihad Stadium however, the England international looks to have finally found his best form at the club. In recent months Grealish has become a key part of Guardiola's tactical set-up and has started to contribute much more in big games - even scoring a crucial goal against title rivals Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.
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