Recent reports claim that Leicester City are preparing an official bid for Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish. The Foxes have been closely monitoring the 22-year-old for quite a while now and Riyad Mahrez’s probable £60m exit will give them the financial leverage to push for a permanent switch. Manchester City are still interested in the Leicester wingman despite a failed transfer attempt in the January transfer window.
As for Aston Villa, Steve Bruce’s side will stay in the Championship after the playoff final loss to Fulham, last week. Maybe offloading players is not the most distant thought on the manager’s mind with the difficult task of wage reduction looming over his head for the past season.
It was expected for Grealish to be on the move following Villa’s failure to earn promotion to the top-flight.
The 22-year-old earns £20,000 per week and was expected to get a pay raise from Villa after the 2017/18 season. Leicester might be able to offer double of that if Mahrez heads for the exit door at King Power Stadium.
Grealish graduated from the Claret and Blues academy after joining the side when he was just 6 years old. He made his first start for the club in January of 2015 against Blackpool in an FA Cup third round game.
Ironically, it was against Leicester in the 3-2 loss in September 2015, when Grealish scored his first goal. He has racked up over 100 senior team appearances for Villa and has successfully overcome a kidney issue to mark his return to the starting XI.
The England U21 international has made up for his time on sidelines by delivering 7 assists this season along with 3 goals. His play-making abilities are improving with each game and will only develop more at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester have barely made any significant improvement this season under Claude Puel and will require the new signings to challenge for a European spot next term. They are nowhere close to the title-winning season they had enjoyed 3 years back and are in dire need of some fresh legs.
Ever since Danny Drinkwater made his way out of the club, the Foxes have been creatively starved in the midfield. They are overstacked in the centre-forward department with 2 of the players forced out of the side on loan in January.
They should look to trim the front-line and reinvest in more quality additions, like a competent winger, a right-back and Grealish if possible!
