Man City expected to make £75m offer for Jack Grealish

Manchester City are expected to make an opening bid for Jack Grealish worth an initial £75m, but Aston Villa are holding out for a bigger fee that would make the 25-year-old the most expensive player in British football history.

Despite missing a chunk of the season through injury, Grealish was hailed as one of the stars of the Premier League in 2020/21 and he played in five of England’s games at Euro 2020.

Speculation from June claiming a deal for Grealish was effectively done and would be announced after Euro 2020 proved to be premature. But the Daily Mail reports that an offer from City is now coming and is expected to start at £75m plus add-ons.

They hope that figure will test Villa’s resolve, but the west Midlands club seemingly have no intention to sell Grealish unless their higher asking price of £100m is met. That would make Grealish the most expensive player ever signed by a British club, surpassing the current £89m record paid by Manchester United for Paul Pogba in 2016.

Villa ideally want to keep Grealish and are tipped to offer him a new and improved contract worth £150,000-per-week to try and convince him to stay. He only signed his current deal last September - having been linked with Tottenham during the summer - but has climbed to a new level since then.

Grealish has been on holiday since Euro 2020 and is expected to report for pre-season duty with Villa next week. The Daily Mirror writes that he will sit down for talks with club officials when he does and is expected to make a decision on his future one or the other before the start of the season – whether it be agreeing to a new contract or asking Villa to sell him to City.

There are rumours that he has already largely agreed personal terms with City, but any transfer still hinges on whether the clubs can come to an agreement over the fee. If there is no indication that will be possible, Grealish could conceivably opt to sign a new contract instead.

Having won three Premier League titles in the last four seasons, City are looking to start building again for the next chapter. But they are yet to make any first-team signings so far this summer and have also been heavily linked with Tottenham striker Harry Kane.

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