Manchester City winger Jack Grealish has been linked with a surprise move to Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur side.
On Saturday, it was reported that Tottenham are trying to sign Grealish after having contacted his representatives.
It was also claimed that Spurs’ sporting director Johan Lange, who was previously at Aston Villa was looking to sign the 29-year-old in the summer as well. However, Grealish had no interest in a move to North London at the time as he was happy at City.
In August, a report emerged that Tottenham were interested in signing Yan Couto from Manchester City whose loan deal at Borussia Dortmund has been made permanent since.
The Englishman’s season has been riddled with injuries, with Rodri claiming Grealish must “improve”; stressing that he is aware of that being the case as well.
At the end of the ongoing season, there will only be two years left on the decorated attacker’s contract at Manchester City.
Man City transfer news: Jack Grealish to Tottenham ruled out
However, speaking to transfer expert Graeme Bailey, there is no possibility of Grealish heading to Tottenham as both the player and Pep Guardiola value his stay at the Etihad Stadium.
“My understanding is he’s very happy at the club. He loves it at City. He hasn’t shown any indication whatsoever that he wants to leave is what I’m being told. Obviously, there’s been links with Spurs and Villa. There’s definitely no talks happening with anyone.”
“He’s on a huge, huge contract we know that but Pep [Guardiola] likes him. Pep’s shown faith in him, he will again. It’s swings and roundabouts for a lot of these City players. Barring [Erling] Haaland, virtually every City player at some point including Ederson has sat out and been in and out.”
Graeme Bailey stressed that even if a club showed interest in Grealish’s services, signing him would be a difficult task for them to say the least.
“That’s life as a top-class player at one of the best clubs in Europe. You’re not playing every game. Let’s see what it looks like next summer if he’s still struggling for game time. But it’s not an easy deal for anyone to do if they did show an interest.”
“But he’s happy, all indications are he’s not looking to leave. If he was available, I don’t doubt that there would be a lot of interest in him. He’s an outstanding Premier League player but as it stands now, City are not looking to push him out of the door and he’s not looking to leave.”
Grealish admitted regret over failed Tottenham move
In 2018, Grealish candidly told The Telegraph that he was disappointed not to have signed for Tottenham when he was still at Aston Villa.
The former Villa captain revealed: “I felt that if I’d gone there I could have maybe been in the England squad by the end of the year.”
“At the start of the season, my head was swivelled, it was all over the place. Even after the transfer window closed, until the end of August, I wasn’t right.”
Grealish added: “I thought I was leaving. Before the new owners, Villa needed the money so I kind of accepted that me going would save the club.
“It’s not like I was devastated it didn’t happen, though, because I’ve still got to realise how lucky I am to be playing for my boyhood club. I’ve played over 100 games for Villa and I’ve only just turned 23.”
While Grealish will feel relieved knowing that if Manchester City are ready to sell him, clubs will be keen on signing him, his ideal scenario will be to step up for his side this season.
The Sky Blues find themselves in a rut, having lost four consecutive games and they are in need of one of their seasoned campaigners to drag them out of the mud.
Grealish’s experience and quality dictates that he could be the man to be relied upon.
Whether the England international manages to do so and redeems himself is a question worth pondering over.
