Richard Keys issues Jack Grealish advice.
Richard Keys has urged Aston Villa to make a “cheeky January bid” for Jack Grealish, just under five months after the midfielder left the club.
Grealish became the most expensive English footballer ever when he left Villa Park for Manchester City for a reported £100 million fee back in August.
Jack Grealish back to Aston Villa?
While he hasn’t set the Etihad Stadium alight as much as he would have hoped, it’s still very early days and it’s unlikely that he’s pining for his boyhood club just yet.
Still, this hasn’t stopped Keys coming up with a solution that he thinks would suit all parties.
“Why don’t Villa make a cheeky £50m bid for Grealish in Jan?” the outspoken former Sky Sports pundit asked on Twitter on Friday morning.
“He hasn’t got any better. He hasn’t made City any better & nor will he. Wrong man. Wrong club. It would get everyone out of a hole.”
Why don’t Villa make a cheeky £50m bid for Grealish in Jan? He hasn’t got any better. He hasn’t made City any better & nor will he. Wrong man. Wrong club (he knows a few). It would get everyone out of a hole. pic.twitter.com/uLUIjpa4rR
— Richard Keys (@richardajkeys) December 31, 2021
Jack Grealish at Man City: The story so far.
While Villa boss Steven Gerrard would probably be open to the idea, it seems a bit premature to write off Grealish’s Man City career just yet.
The England international has shown flashes of brilliance and while he’s not a guaranteed starter in Pep Guardiola’s forward-heavy squad, he could well play a key role as the matches pile up on the domestic front and in Europe in the spring.
It’s well-known that Grealish’s association with Villa runs deep and while the January transfer window will likely come too soon, the 25-year-old has spoken about the potential of going back there one day.
“I hope to go back there.”
“It’s a club that is so close to my heart and I definitely hope to go back there,” Grealish told The Telegraph earlier this month.
“That’s always been in my mind. Ashley Young has done it and I want to do the same, 100 per cent.”
In that same interview, Grealish spoke about the difficulties of adapting to life at Man City after spending so long with just one club.
“I’ve found it a lot more difficult than I thought I would, adapting to a different manager and teammates,” he added.
“At first I thought I’d have more of the ball, get more assists and goals but it doesn’t work like that at all. I’ve had nowhere near as much of the ball as I used to get at Villa.”
Life is bound to get rosier for Grealish once he gets his hands on a few trophies and it’s likely that he will put any return to Villa on the back-burner for a few years yet, despite Keys’ characteristic pot-stirring.