Manchester United players were asking Jack Grealish when he was joining Aston Villa during a pre-season friendly match between the two Premier League clubs back in September. Villa won 1-0 at Villa Park against United in the Red Devils’ only warm-up match ahead of the current campaign.
Grealish played 90 minutes out on the left-hand side and according to David Ornstein, was involved in several on-pitch conversations with United players in which they enquired about his future.
The mercurial playmaker was asked about a move to Old Trafford with links tipping him to make an £80million switch to United.
The 25-year-old Villa captain however went on to sign a new five-year contract in mid-September and has had a brilliant start to the top-flight season.
Having helped keep the Midlands club up last term, the attacker has four goals and five assists in just seven league games – having managed eight goals and six assists in 36 games last year.
But The Athletic’s Ornstein says that United players were jokingly asking when the player would be joining them, indicating that they might be keen on counting Grealish as a team-mate one day.
PREMIER LEAGUE ON TV: Get NOW TV’s Sky Sports season pass now and save 25 per cent
Ornstein said on the Tifo Podcast’s Ask Ornstein show: “I think many of us would have anticipated Grealish to be the subject of a really high-profile move in the transfer window but you need to consider the impact COVID had on the market.
“It meant few if any clubs were willing to meet Villa’s asking price for Grealish. Villa didn’t need or want to sell, they’ve got very wealthy owners and he’s their captain.
“I also think some of those clubs still had reservations about that level of spending on this player and whether he’s the real deal, which it’s starting to look like he is.
“I think Villa would’ve been sympathetic to the situation if a suitable offer arrived and I think Grealish would’ve looked to explore it had a Champions League club come in and put their money where their mouth is and shown him that he was their No 1 target. That didn’t happen.
“Manchester United were heavily linked, they prioritised Jadon Sancho and didn’t even get him, Manchester City I’m told really admire Grealish but he wasn’t on their agenda this particular summer, I’m not sure about any others.
“Interestingly there was a friendly between Aston Villa and Man United at Villa Park ahead of the new season starting and I think in a humorous way a number of the United players were saying to Grealish, ‘When are you joining us?’
“But there was nothing from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer towards him and I think by that point it was pretty clear to Grealish that it wasn’t going to happen.
“He wanted his future settled ahead of the season starting and he indicated at that point he wanted to sign a new contract so all parties came together very quickly and in the early hours of Tuesday the 15th September, that contract was signed.
“We don’t know if there’s a release clause, we’ll have to wait and see, and we don’t know if there’s any kind of agreement around whether a certain level of club comes in for him with a certain level of payment and that could take him away.
MUST READ…
Man Utd star Van de Beek paying the price for Woodward failure
Piers Morgan demands Arsenal sign one star if they can offload Ozil
Man Utd line up looks drastically different with all Solskjaer targets
“What we do know is he is appears completely committed and happy at Aston Villa.”
After signing a new deal, Grealish admitted that his future hung in the balance at one point in the summer and said: “Yeah, I suppose so [it was 50-50]. I had a good season last season and there was interest in myself from other clubs.
“But I truly believe everything happens for a reason. Now I’ve signed a new contract at Aston Villa and I’ve got the biggest smile on my face.”
Grealish’s form has helped Villa to sit sixth in the Premier League during the November international break with five wins from seven games, including a 7-2 defeat of Liverpool and a 3-0 thrashing of Arsenal.
“Jack knew when I first came in he had to improve his goalscoring and his assist record. He’s doing that now, he’s playing higher up,” Villa boss Dean Smith said.
“Now we want him higher up the pitch in the Premier League and he’s shown what he is capable of doing.
“I didn’t hear [England manager] Gareth’s [Southgate] interview but I can only talk about working with Jack and he’s a player who wants to keep pushing himself and getting better. It is great to have a local lad who supports the club.”
Whether Grealish comes back on to United’s radar remains to be seen, but his current performance levels surely mean the Villans will have to fight off clubs to keep hold of their skipper in the future.
This article contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission on any sales of products or services we write about. This article was written completely independently, see more details here