Apologies for not having posted for a good while. The truth is I’ve quite enjoyed not really having to think about football at all. The Buendia signing seems an excellent one and that nearly nudged me into writing something, but somehow I just didn’t get round to it. The Ashley Young signing didn’t do anything at all for me, although it seems pretty popular amongst the fans generally.
Even England haven’t really inspired me much. I enjoyed our first half performance on Tuesday, but struggle to see how it’s going to be any different from our usual losing to the first decent team we face. That said, I actually think we can beat Germany if we perform.
The news today is that Aston Villa have agreed a £100 million fee to sell Jack Grealish to Man City as soon as he has come away from the Euro tournament.
It’s just too big a story for me to pass up.
I’m usually very sceptical about any press speculation, but I have a very sneaky feeling there’s something in this story. There’s no vagueness or guesswork in the wording and it all seems very definite.
I think I’ve voiced my opinion before, quite recently that I could partly see Jack leaving this year with the thought being that after the money that Edens and Sawaris have spent, I couldn’t really blame them for wanting to recoup some of it.
If the sale does happen, I can see it all being spent and the reality is that £100 million will buy some very decent players. There’s debate to be had about whether getting those players in will make up for losing a player who has opened all football fan’s eyes, but I very much doubt the club have taken the decision lightly and there must have been a lot of thought put into it.
There’s also the fact that we don’t know how the player himself feels. I don’t think for one minute Jack would hand in a transfer request, but you can’t blame him if he wants to win silverware at Man City. And given that it seems Pep still wants Harry Kane as well, you’d have to think that that silverware will be forthcoming this season.
We also have to consider that Jack was supposed to be leaving last season and we apparently managed to dissuade him from going by saying that we would allow him to leave when the time was right.
So of course I’ll be gutted if Jack does go, but I can mostly understand it.
My biggest complaint is that I personally think it’s too cheap and I’ve always had £130 million in my mind. I also think if it does happen, we’ve let it all happen too easily and I’d have liked to see the club put up a bit of a fight and at least on the face of it, reject the bid.
I also have a concern that the team look decidedly average without Jack. That said, I think Dean Smith knows a decent player and can overall improve the team.
Let’s see if it happens, eh?
