Jack Grealish net worth set to rocket as savvy move banks ex Aston Villa star millions

Jack Grealish is to become a father after he and his partner Sasha Attwood revealed that they are expecting their first child together later this year. Grealish recently took to social media with a picture with his hands placed on his partner’s baby bump and the accompanying caption: “Life’s biggest blessing.”

The former Aston Villa captain, who is 29 later this year, has spent the last three years at Manchester City, where he has won a Premier League title in each campaign, a Champions League winners’ medal in 2023, an FA Cup in the same year and both a UEFA Super Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup.

His £100m move, on a six-year contract which still has three years left to run as of this summer, came as a result of a scintillating couple of years at Villa Park, during which time he inspired Villa back to the Premier League under Dean Smith in 2019 and then struck ten goals in order to help keep them there on the final day of the 2019-20 season.

Grealish then shone in the side which had added the likes of Ollie Watkins and Ross Barkley to its attack as Villa secured a mid-table finish. By this point, Grealish was being recognised by England manager Gareth Southgate and the first handful of his 36 England appearances to date came during his days in Birmingham.

Grealish hails from Solihull and began playing football as a boy at Highgate United before joining boyhood club Villa at the age of six. In all, he scored 32 goals in 213 appearances for Villa, during which time he also enjoyed a loan spell with Notts County as a teenager which catapulted himself into the claret and blue first-team sphere.

Net worth

It isn’t just in football where Grealish earns his fortune; considered one of the most marketable footballers in England, the winger boasts a wealth of sponsorship deals in various industries, ranging from soft drinks, sportswear…and mayonnaise. You’ll have seen him modelling Puma gear, marketing Pepsi and, in the Euros – although he wasn’t himself involved in Gareth Southgate’s squad after an injury-hit campaign – you’ll have seen him working with Hellman’s.

As well as that, Grealish has previously worked with high end fashion company Gucci, as well as BooHooMan, headphone firm Bose and appeared in Sports Direct’s Christmas advert. Entering his peak playing years, Grealish’s net worth is only going to rise year on year.

“When player salaries are bandied about as well as the value of boot deals and other commercial partnerships it’s usually wise to take some of the figures with a pinch of salt,” Reach’s chief business of football writer Dave Powell says. “While likely not a million miles away, the truth is that the value of such partnerships to the individual, as well as how much they are paid from their clubs, are often kept between both parties, and the wages can differ from what is reported.

“In the case of Grealish, he is widely reported to be on around £300,000 per week at Manchester City, a sum that would be £15.6m before tax. The tax, of course, is important as such high earnings mean that he would be subject to the 45% income tax bracket, meaning his annual salary after tax would be around £7m. Still, not a bad sum.

“But players engage in other deals outside of their playing salary, with Grealish believed to have a £10m per year deal in place with Puma, while having other partnerships with the likes of Hellmans, he is able to lift his earning potential significantly.

“Back in 2014, Grealish did what many top level footballers do and created a limited company for his image rights, with his firm known as Kelandan Ltd. As players have become brands, in some cases being even stronger and compelling to younger generations that the social pull of the clubs themselves, players and agents have realised the brand value that exists, and how it can be monetised.

“When a club signs a player they are not only acquiring a talent to aid their competitive goals, but an asset that the club can use to help generate greater revenues through their marketability. For existing or would-be commercial partners, the ability to have their brands associated with top players is compelling and leads to a willingness to pay higher sums to the clubs themselves.

“But it is the player’s image, one related to such things as name, trademark characteristics, squad number, social following, and other areas, and players are now switched on to knowing that they must look after their own interests.

“When a club signs a player one of the key agreements to be reached is regarding image rights, and what the club can expect from their player when calling upon them to appear in marketing campaigns for commercial partners. The two parties will attempt to reach as much common ground as possible so that there is little confusion about what is expected of them during a campaign from a commercial perspective. It removes any potential for legal issues.

“If a commercial partner wants to use a player for a campaign then the club would have to call upon the player within the confines of the image rights agreement in place and the license that has been obtained. In creating an image rights company, the player will sell their rights to the company itself and will then receive a fee paid directly to the firm from the club for use of their image rights.

“It is also beneficial from a tax perspective, with that money received taxed at a 19% company rate as opposed to it being subject to the 45% tax rate that would be applied to players through the salary received from the club. For some players, such methods work as something of a savings account throughout their careers ahead of taking out funds at a later date for them to invest in other areas in later life.

“That means the £10m per year that Grealish, for example, might earn from Puma, would be taxed at 19% instead of 45%. The most recent accounts for Kelandan Ltd show that the firm had net assets of £3.4m, up from £1m the previous year.

“In terms of assessing Grealish’s net worth, his salary, value of his partnerships, value of his limited company, and the amount he has tied up in physical assets such as property, which has long been a move for players to look after their wealth long-term, all have to be taken into account.”