Grealish To City? | City bid £100M

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redrobed said:
This absolutely will not happen.

Those playing abroad who’ve held a dream of playing in the Premier League and see the dollar signs will sell their soul to join an equally soulless club.

Players like Grealish will have grown up seeing us going about things the right way, winning things, not buying them, and almost undoubtedly will have been a Utd fan.

I think if we’re not in for him (knowing the Glazers we won’t be) he’ll likely just stay at Villa until we are.
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Leaving aside how unrealistically optimistic that outlook is in general, the bold is particularly naive I think.

Grealish may have seen us win trophies when he was younger, but he was 17 the last time we won a league title. In the years since then rather than see us "going about things the right way" he has instead seen us be a particularly badly run club, while those soulless clubs like City and Chelsea have won multiple major trophies. Realistically that's going to loom a lot larger in any player's mind than fan-imposed distinctions between trophies from the guts of a decade ago being "won" instead of "bought". These are professional footballers, not professional United fans.
 
redrobed said:
This absolutely will not happen.

Those playing abroad who’ve held a dream of playing in the Premier League and see the dollar signs will sell their soul to join an equally soulless club.

Players like Grealish will have grown up seeing us going about things the right way, winning things, not buying them, and almost undoubtedly will have been a Utd fan.

I think if we’re not in for him (knowing the Glazers we won’t be) he’ll likely just stay at Villa until we are.
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From a lot of perspectives, City has been the club going about things the right way the past few years, including by "winning things". Though ultimately outspending everyone else is what it all depends on, that doesn't mean the money automatically translates to winning things. It also comes from spending it wisely and building a quality organisation, which they have. Their transfer management and team building above all I would call exemplary. This would - and should - make them very attractive to any talented and ambitious player.

Still soulless though. But I fear success outweighs a whole lot of soul.
 
Personally if I was Grealish then I’d look at Pep’s CL final and wonder if City really have a better chance to win the CL again. Under Pep, I don’t think so especially since so many clubs have been made a bit mediocre by COVID.

I’m not saying United have an ability to win the CL but I think joining United to make them a great PL winning team again sounds better than winning PL’s for city under Pep until they give up on him not winning a CL after ages.
 
Grealish would become a megastar at United ala Beckham and Ronaldo. City no matter how much money they have cannot give him the same world wide status because they have no prestige.

Would be such a shame if he went to the plastics. Their legend just left for Barcelona and claimed it's a "step forward" in his career. Gives a bit of an insight as to how city are viewed even by their own players. Although they stick around for the offshore accounts I suppose to compensate that no one cares what is 'achieved' there.
 
Havent see any concrete news in weeks that we are in for Jack, which is a shame. I agree with many of the posts that he is just what we need right now and add a different dimension to our attacking play, instead of being so predictable.
 
I am looking forward to watching how he does during the Euros.

Undoubtedly he has skill ball retention etc but after watching the two recent international friendlies and he is fouled a lot, however he appears to be looking/expecting, waiting to be fouled and holds onto the ball too long anticipating a foul and ignores a forward run/pass.

There was a glaring example during the last friendly when he would have been clear through down the left hand side and received a tug on the arm, yes a clear foul but appeared to take the easy option of falling to the ground.
 
redrobed said:
This absolutely will not happen.

Those playing abroad who’ve held a dream of playing in the Premier League and see the dollar signs will sell their soul to join an equally soulless club.

Players like Grealish will have grown up seeing us going about things the right way, winning things, not buying them, and almost undoubtedly will have been a Utd fan.

I think if we’re not in for him (knowing the Glazers we won’t be) he’ll likely just stay at Villa until we are.
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I love the positivity in your post, but modern-day footballers rarely think that way. This is the list of preferences, in that order. History of the club is probably the last preference for a typical elite modern footballer.
  • Money: wages, etc.
  • Game-time / compatibility in the team
  • Location of the club (country, city…)
  • Chance of winning silverware
  • …
  • …
  • Boyhood support
  • History of the club
 
TheLord said:
I love the positivity in your post, but modern-day footballers rarely think that way. This is the list of preferences, in that order. History of the club is probably the last preference for a typical elite modern footballer.
  • Money: wages, etc.
  • Game-time / compatibility in the team
  • Location of the club (country, city…)
  • Chance of winning silverware
  • …
  • …
  • Boyhood support
  • History of the club
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You hear about how sunny Spain is and how Spanish speakers adapt better to la liga but in reality no one ever snubs or leaves us for Sevilla they go to Barca and Real, then you find out it's not even about the history those 2 have. The truth is they pay much higher than any pl team.
 
Bebestation said:
Personally if I was Grealish then I’d look at Pep’s CL final and wonder if City really have a better chance to win the CL again. Under Pep, I don’t think so especially since so many clubs have been made a bit mediocre by COVID.

I’m not saying United have an ability to win the CL but I think joining United to make them a great PL winning team again sounds better than winning PL’s for city under Pep until they give up on him not winning a CL after ages.
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Bit of a stretch. City closer to CL than we are PL.
 
The main temptation for Grealish to join United is that he would become a star here. He would get the creative freedom to do his thing and more or less start every match. He'll simply slot in at City and become another rotatable cog in the Pep XI. Less chance of silverware though, and his siblings won't get their own football teams etc.
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
It doesn't work like that unless you are wearing rose-tinted glasses, the likes of Kane who is captain of England is begging to jump ship to City. Walker, Stones, Sterling who were stars of their team moved without hestitation. Grealish strikes me as a player with great ambition, he's 25 now so he really can't wait that much longer. If there's a club that is ready to match that ambition and try to sign him then he'll move, and that's most likely City.
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By most accounts he grew up a Utd fan but as he was at Villa, his affinity to them has grown and grown, and understandably so.

Grealish is ambitious yes, but equally, he's someone who has that old school loyalty to his club that hasn't been seen for a long time, and it is refreshing if I'm being honest. He stuck with them when they got relegated at a point where he was just starting to establish himself in the Prem, with a move to Liverpool being properly touted at the time. He also stuck with them for another 3 years in the Championship and then last season, which was the perfect moment for him to move after keeping his boyhood club up, he still stayed on. I know the modern professional player is someone who normally doesn't really care about club allegiances, but Grealish really does seem to be built differently to the rest.

And with Villa finally seeming to get their act together off the pitch, I genuinely would not be surprised if he ended up being a one club man.
 
flappyjay said:
You hear about how sunny Spain is and how Spanish speakers adapt better to la liga but in reality no one ever snubs or leaves us for Sevilla they go to Barca and Real, then you find out it's not even about the history those 2 have. The truth is they pay much higher than any pl team.
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Your post is confusing!
Which part of my "ordered list" do you not agree with?
 
TheLord said:
Your post is confusing!
Which part of my "ordered list" do you not agree with?
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I am agreeing with your entire statement. Hence why I mention players always talking about their love for the big Spanish 2 and their history but in reality the big driving factor is money followed by the other things on your list.
 
croadyman said:
Have always felt this is a difficult question to answer when he hasn't played there for about 8 years
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I've seen him play there for Villa before, he wasn't effective at all. Kept turning backwards or just trying to cross from wide, a complete waste of his talents.
 
redrobed said:
This absolutely will not happen.

Those playing abroad who’ve held a dream of playing in the Premier League and see the dollar signs will sell their soul to join an equally soulless club.

Players like Grealish will have grown up seeing us going about things the right way, winning things, not buying them, and almost undoubtedly will have been a Utd fan.

I think if we’re not in for him (knowing the Glazers we won’t be) he’ll likely just stay at Villa until we are.
Click to expand...
I understand your sentiments but football has changed a lot over past 20 years. In short, most players are just glory hunters or money grabber, or career-oriented. Very few play for their shirts over money/glory/career these days.
 
VanHaal'sRedArmy said:
Would not mind losing Pogba if we can get him.
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100%.... Pogba is a constant distraction..... we neee someone who consistently gives 100% and work their socks off....
If we can get a CDM for Pogba money (or swap with another team).... I will spend 80-90m on grealish
 
croadyman said:
Have always felt this is a difficult question to answer when he hasn't played there for about 8 years
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It’s not a difficult one to answer he is nowhere near as effective at RW last year I think I had this debate with lots of forum users who were saying he could solve our problems despite having only played there for Notts County for a handful of games years ago.
 
Under Guardiola, Grealish will be tethered and will have to play tippy tippy football. Having him do his stuff as a roaming midfielder will ruin Guardiola’s tactics. Besides, he would clash with Foden. He would also have to have his teeth whitend to out dazzle the rest of the squad.
 
Never understood why Southgate doesn’t pick Grealish. I mean, apart from the fact that Grealish is probably England best attacking midfielder, isn’t that Southgate used to play for Aston Villa too?
 
RedRonaldo said:
Never understood why Southgate doesn’t pick Grealish. I mean, apart from the fact that Grealish is probably England best attacking midfielder, isn’t that Southgate used to play for Aston Villa too?
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Isn't it an English manager trait to leave more exciting midfield talents on the bench so hard working honest lads can rack up the caps? Remember how John Barnes and Glenn Hoddle were world-class talents who were never guaranteed starters for England, same with Paul Scholes who got messed about as well as Gazza not making the cut for France 98 ahead of lesser midfielders like David Batty, Paul Merson and Rob Lee. Same reason why Fred and McTominay keep starting for us. Hard work and discipline is more valued by coaches than ability.
 
RuudTom83 said:
Is there any actual evidence that United are after Grealish?
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Don't think so since we signed Bruno. Pre Bruno there was talk it was one or the other. Some talk last summer but it didn't make a whole lot of sense with Rashford and Bruno as vital as they are in the 2 positions that Grealish can play (which is the same situation as now hence why it's not happening).
 
RuudTom83 said:
Is there any actual evidence that United are after Grealish?
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Forget United, arsenal fans online are weirdly optimistic that they will sign him. Like, even beundia signed for Villa over them.

I haven’t seen any reports by stone or ducker linking us to him. I think it is just us fans wishing we can sign him.
 
We spent 40m on VDB and agreed to 20m (plus 20) on Amad last summer. Those fees alone wouldn't have been far off what Villa wanted for Grealish and we had a free run at him back then.
Absolute school boy stuff from this club time and time again in the market. I wouldn't trust Woodward, Judge etc to run a bath let alone a huge football club.

He's now most likely going to join City and show us what a stupid mistake we made last year. If money was tight then why did we buy a player Ole clearly didn't want in VDB???
 
I'd take Grealish over Haaland and Sancho even. Haaland might be better, and Sancho might have a higher ceiling, but out of these 3, Grealish seems the one that would play here the longer, and wouldn't be looking over his shoulder all the time.
 
If Ole decides to not buy vital gap players to our squad like a CB and a CDM to try and get Grealish on the last minute-

would you as a fan still want Ole fired if he doesn’t win the premier league next year?
 
Le Red said:
I'd take Grealish over Haaland and Sancho even. Haaland might be better, and Sancho might have a higher ceiling, but out of these 3, Grealish seems the one that would play here the longer, and wouldn't be looking over his shoulder all the time.
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Sancho doesn’t have a higher ceiling, he doesn’t remotely control the game as smoothly as Grealish does. He is very, very rare in that regard. Sancho has scored a lot of points in a weaker league where he plays a lot of messy back-lines, that will not happen in England. Not saying he won’t master it, but certainly not with the same output.. impossible. He simply gets too many of his points from situations that do not happen in the Premier League.
 
Bebestation said:
If Ole decides to not buy vital gap players to our squad like a CB and a CDM to try and get Grealish on the last minute-

would you as a fan still want Ole fired if he doesn’t win the premier league next year?
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Ole will do well to finish 2nd again next year. I'll take that, along with having a few more points than this season.
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
We spent 40m on VDB and agreed to 20m (plus 20) on Amad last summer. Those fees alone wouldn't have been far off what Villa wanted for Grealish and we had a free run at him back then.
Absolute school boy stuff from this club time and time again in the market. I wouldn't trust Woodward, Judge etc to run a bath let alone a huge football club.

He's now most likely going to join City and show us what a stupid mistake we made last year. If money was tight then why did we buy a player Ole clearly didn't want in VDB???
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100% agree.
 
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