The RJW63 Official Jack Grealish Appreciation Thread

[Davkaus]

Just now, HanoiVillan said:

'Small time' is caring either way to be honest. The fact is we might as well have been playing a different sport than Man City since 2008. They aren't our rivals and never will be, so whether our season is a success or not is almost completely orthogonal to whether he does well at City.

You're not wrong. They might be our rivals at some point, but only if we become them. You either get picked apart peice by peice by the clubs who buy the league, or you turn into the thing you despise.

Call me a drama queen, but I think this was the final nail in my interest in top flight football, I'll be down in the terraces of my local team before I bother with the PL,  I think. It's shite football, but at least it's not a polished business facade masqarading as sporting competition. 

[Johnnyp]

9 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

I thought I'd understand and respect his decision. Now it's happened, I definitely don't. Can't wait till he's gone now.

I've said many times I'll respectively wish him well and im grateful for his service at the club but when he rocks up at VP next season, im hoping we absolutely smash him.

[RichiBoi11]

3 minutes ago, smg said:

Picture removed from Villa shop website.

It's still on the desktop site

[The_Steve]

Makes you wonder if he made the decision in the last 24 hours. He’s embarrassed the club and the fans. A pro yes, but certainly not going to be fondly remembered. Took the easy route. 

[nick76]

Talksport on there twitter said Grealish is in Manchester then 7 minutes later next tweet say he'll be on his way to Manchester today....make up your mind!

[sidcow]

3 minutes ago, smg said:

Picture removed from Villa shop website.

What, this one which I have just copied at 10.47 Am today?

[gaffer85]

15 minutes ago, AXD said:

 I wouldn't begrudge him the chance to play at a higher level. (Once we win the league we can buy him back to play CL for us) He got us back to the PL and kept us here in our first season. The man has done a lot for our club, I hope he will do more and get us into europe, but if he wants to go and the club gets a lot of money for him, good luck to him. 

I will begrudge him he only coming into his prime and he wants to leave,

I don't get all this bollocks that he stayed with us,

The only other bid was the derogatory one from spurs, as soon as someone puts the money where there mouth is, he says goodbye to little villa,

I hope he doesn't win a **** thing there cause once he leaves he's not a villa boy anymore 

Maybe a bit of karma us beating city in the fa cup final would be nice

I would love to see Jack's face as Tyrone lifts that trophy instead of him

[a m ole]

Just now, FrannyLee1968 said:

https://theathletic.com/news/jack-grealish-transfer-man-city-aston-villa/mNpZh59DIar2

Where will he fit in at City?

Sources close to City manager Pep Guardiola indicate that Grealish will feature as a No 8, rather than as a left winger as he has done at Villa in recent seasons.

It’s thought that Grealish prefers playing centrally and that he will be rotated with Ilkay Gundogan in City’s midfield.

Grealish’s creativity is a huge upside and he will be expected to continue in the same vein as last season — the Villa man was second in the Premier League for both chances created and chances created from open play, despite making just 26 appearances.

City expect Bernardo Silva to leave the club this summer and while the two are different types of players, Silva’s departure opens up a slot for Grealish in Guardiola’s rotation.

Stop trolling. The ‘nice guy’ act is even more embarrassing.

[GarethRDR]

With our recent strike-rate on decent signings, intrigued to see what we could do with a fat wad.  Could conceivably sort out the midfield and front-line.

Also I don't know many how many times people need to hear footballers say "it's a job" to accept that anything else they say is largely window-dressing.

The only thing that grates for me would be that I am utterly convinced Southgate will suddenly decide he's good enough for England's starting line-up, and that the ridiculously paltry showings he was given over the Euros would possibly have played a part in deciding now's the time to move on.

So, as ever, **** Gareth Southgate.

[KentVillan]

7 minutes ago, jim said:

British record £100m is not to be sniffed at. Good deal for us who misses 9/10 games a season.
 

We will come out stronger as long as we invest well.

In absolute cash terms, yes it's a record, but someone has adjusted the fees for transfer market inflation, and it's not as much as it sounds.

Here are a few examples of players who were more expensive than Grealish:

Quote

Stan Collymore

Centre-Forward

24

1995-1996

Premier League

Nottm Forest

Liverpool FC

£11,700,000

£111,144,872

Shaun Wright-Phillips

Right Winger

23

2005-2006

Premier League

Man City

Chelsea FC

£28,350,000

£109,930,242

Andy Carroll

Centre-Forward

22

2010-2011

Premier League

Newcastle

Liverpool FC

£36,900,000

£101,614,888

from https://www.totallymoney.com/content/transfer-index/data/

Make of that what you will. It's a very big transfer, one of the top 100 of all time, but the big £100m figure makes it sound a lot more impressive than it is. We'll struggle to reinvest that money on the quality we need, and will have to persist with the Moneyball approach.

Edit: I agree 100% on the injury record, though. It's a good price for a player who may be injury prone. I'm just worried we'll now find that he's able to play 40+ games a season for City!

Edited August 4, 2021 by KentVillan

[TheMightyVillans]

Disappointing part is the timing of him leaving. The club is on the up, we have brought in quality players to get the best out of him and now he decides to leave a week before the season starts. He has taken the club for a wild ride and sadly has tainted his reputation and to me won't be a villa legend. A true villa legend would have stuck with the project until it was obvious it was no longer progressing. 

Farewell

[est1874]

5 minutes ago, dudevillaisnice said:

Curious to see what his reaction is if Pep ever subs him off. 

Nevermind that - wait until Pep tells him to stop receiving the ball with the outside of his foot and learn to do it with his instep because that's how football 'should' be played.

He will now be coached within an inch of his life and he will hate every minute of it.

Edited August 4, 2021 by est1874

[JPAngel]

Ornstein and Romano now reporting. The sooner this thread is in other football the better.

[MaVilla]

i do wonder if behind the scenes Villa might be quite happy with 100m for a player who has missed 6 months of play time in the last 3 years, as its a huge chunk of money to invest and improve the squad, if spent wisely.

[rjw63]

2 minutes ago, FrannyLee1968 said:

https://theathletic.com/news/jack-grealish-transfer-man-city-aston-villa/mNpZh59DIar2

Where will he fit in at City?

Sources close to City manager Pep Guardiola indicate that Grealish will feature as a No 8, rather than as a left winger as he has done at Villa in recent seasons.

It’s thought that Grealish prefers playing centrally and that he will be rotated with Ilkay Gundogan in City’s midfield.

Grealish’s creativity is a huge upside and he will be expected to continue in the same vein as last season — the Villa man was second in the Premier League for both chances created and chances created from open play, despite making just 26 appearances.

City expect Bernardo Silva to leave the club this summer and while the two are different types of players, Silva’s departure opens up a slot for Grealish in Guardiola’s rotation.

Shouldn't you be off trying to punch Norman Hunter in the knees?

[VillaJ100]

He'll be playing 2nd choice left back at City in 3 seasons

[KevinRichardsonsMoustache]

5 minutes ago, dudevillaisnice said:

Curious to see what his reaction is if Pep ever subs him off. 

 

[The Fun Factory]

4 minutes ago, Pez1974 said:

Yes.

But from a business perspective, it gave them an asset to underpin their investment.

The fact is that they will now realise the value of that asset (in cash terms) and can now choose to invest it more broadly.

Best example - we just avoided relegation, and then sold David Platt. We reinvested well, and finished 2nd. It can be done.

Yep both Villa and Grealish were undervalued assets when they bought the club.

[dubbs]

Better be cash rather than cash + reserve player. 

[AshVilla]