Jack Grealish

How much? That depends. How much do they want? Pay it.
150M? 200M?
Do you really think we have infinite money?

If we sell Pogba or Martial, we will need replacements. We need a squad to last a season. We can't afford selling someone and not replacing them.
 
150M? 200M?
Do you really think we have infinite money?

If we sell Pogba or Martial, we will need replacements. We need a squad to last a season. We can't afford selling someone and not replacing them.
Well that’s sound economics
 
I don`t think anyone of our players have been good enough on the left side of our attack to keep a player like him out. Martial and Rashford looks amazing there from time to time but can also be very frustrating for long spells.
Grealish might just be good and consistent enough to become a default starter for us just like Bruno has.

That said, he would obviously cost a fortune and we have other issues to deal with. RW, CB, DM, perhaps even RB?
So it`s not very likely at the moment
 
Grealish would do well to be in the top 20 players in the PL, let's stop repeating this nonsense of him arguably being the best in the league.
 
Grealish would do well to be in the top 20 players in the PL, let's stop repeating this nonsense of him arguably being the best in the league.
What would be your barometer for judging the best players in the league - would it be on hard numbers or how important they are to the team by way of what they bring to the pitch?
 
What would be your barometer for judging the best players in the league - would it be on hard numbers or how important they are to the team by way of what they bring to the pitch?
Numbers, impact, ability and consistency.
 
And he's not one of the best in the league at that? This season
Well we're about a quarter of the way into the season so its too early to say he's one of the best. At this point its all form.

Calvert Lewin has performed better than Aubameyang so far but Auba is in a different league to DCL. Similar situation with Jota, he's Liverpool's best performing forward right now but no chance he's the best.

I guess the consistency part of my barometer has yet to be met.
 
When we're able to get Bruno at lower price, then why should we overpay the price?

I think that's why the club is heading in that direction starting the recent summer 2020 window - no new british player joining eh. They're overrated and way over price. Clubs making meals out of the deals whenever we try to buy english players.
 
He needs more seasons and prove it at the top level consistently before making these claims. There are many "nice" players around the world and he has only just had his break out season last season which has been bettered in the past. Does a few nations league performances elevate you to "one of the best in the world?" We are giving these titles soo quickly nowadays.
You could have said the same about Isco a few years back and where's he at? He got his big move did not present himself as one of the best in the world. Could easily be the same for Jack which is why we should hold fire on these claims.
I've said it before but I watched 99% of Malaga's games in 12/13. They were one of my favourite teams to watch which is why I was gutted City hired Pellegrini. Especially as we got Moyes instead, but I digress.

Point is, whilst Isco was brilliant that year and I wanted him as much as anyone, Grealish has been even better.
Hindsight is a funny thing.

Grealish would arguably be first name on the sheet right now.
Yet not one poster suggested similar beforehand, so all this "we shoulda signed him" stuff is easy now.

It was all a case of whether the 60-70m was too much for someone who wouldn't be a certain starter. Then throw in that we couldn't clear many unwanted players out, villa not going down and all that incident with the car, and all of a sudden not signing him is not at all as mad at some suggest.
Nope!

In the summer whilst everyone was obsessing over Sancho and saying they'd rather have Donny, I was saying Grealish would be our best signing and that he'd quickly become our best an most important player. I wanted us to pay whatever it took.

I've wanted him here for years.
He isnt a box to box midfielder. Hes an attacking mid or a left winger. He doesn't play as part of a double pivot, or as one of the 2 deeper mids in a 3. Its the most creative/advanced mid in a 3, or on the left. Playing him anywhere else is just wasting his abilities and putting a square peg into a round hole. We already have Pogba who is an attacking mid who we try to force deep. We bought VdB who is a 8/10 so at least can make it work deeper. We have Bruno as our main man who is a 10. I've said it before, but the second we signed Bruno, Grealish effectively disappeared as a logical target.
Nope!

Grealish is a brilliant DLP. Some of his best stuff came in a midfield 3 where he'd be the one to stay deep with a DM whilst McGinn was the CM to get forward.
Doesn't matter who he benches between Martial, Rashford or Bruno, he'd improve the team. He's better than anything we have. They wont stop him leaving if they get a good offer.
I've been saying this for ages. I'm glad others are seeing this. We don't have anyone as good as him.
 
He is probably the best player in the league. Toss up with KDB and Kane.

Villa literally passes him the ball deep and says do your thing

Pure ball at feet he is number 1. Pogba should be number 1 but loses the ball often. Grealish never loses the ball.
 
He is not a box to box and he would never play that role. The best we can expect is him in a 3 man midfield. We will have the same issues as Pogba if we sign him unless rashford goes to right and he will keep swapping with this guy.
To be fair, he has said he sees himself as a box to box midfielder, and he did play there for us in the Championship in our promotion season alongside McGinn and they both absolutely bossed that league. He is very good defensively, even from left wing. You'll need a very good DM behind him though, otherwise he's wasted there and it's why we play him on the left now. He's such a good player, he can play pretty much anywhere on the pitch and be effective. You give him license to stay up too and he'll wreak havoc as we're currently seeing. But his ball retention and progression abilities can't be overlooked which are perfectly suited for a midfield role.
 
The best thing, whatever we pay for Grealish we can easily fund by selling Pogba and Martial. We dont need either.

If we sell Martial and Pogba, we need to replace them. Martial definitely will need replacing, because he is a starter for us, and will def play 40+ games for us during a season. Our attacking depth is shitty as is : Rashford, Cavani, Martial, Greenwood, James, Mata. Considering we sell Mata, James and Martial, we will be left with 2 players, one near retirement, and couple of 18y olds, when ideally we should have 6 players for 3 positions. Selling Martial a player that got us 35G+A last season is incredibly stupid though. And I expect nothing else from caf where couple of bad games will have people calling Messi a waste of space.

I like Grealish though, and would prefer him from the left over Rashford and Martial.
--------------Cavani
Grealish--Bruno--Rashford

With Greenwood, Martial from the bench.
 
A no go then. Utd spending 100m on a player is next to impossible especially in a window we`ll still be recovering from the pandemic incurred losses
 
Would be a great 8 in our midfield, don’t think we’ll be spending that much though. Shame, tremendous player. I do wonder where he could end up if he does move.
 
A no go then. Utd spending 100m on a player is next to impossible especially in a window we`ll still be recovering from the pandemic incurred losses

He played out of his skin to keep Villa from being relegated. He himself created his enormous price tag.
He can stay at Villa for the rest of his best career years for all I care. He created this situation by himself.
 
He played out of his skin to keep Villa from being relegated. He himself created his enormous price tag.
He can stay at Villa for the rest of his best career years for all I care. He created this situation by himself.

Yeah!!! We don’t need the likes of him who give everything to his club! Good riddance!
 
We can only fantasise about having him now that he costs 100m +. But in retrospect should we have spent 80m on him given we were also willing to spend 90 on Sancho? Back then it seemed like his only spot in the team was taken by Rashford and Bruno but we could have actually played this

Cavani
Grealish Bruno Rashford

 
He played out of his skin to keep Villa from being relegated. He himself created his enormous price tag.
He can stay at Villa for the rest of his best career years for all I care. He created this situation by himself.

Such a weird post.
 
Talk about being clueless.
How so? Mane, Salah, VVD, Thiago, TAA, Fabinho, KDB, Bernardo Silva, Sterling, Kane, Son, Kante, Thiago Silva, Pulisic, Ziyech, Bruno, Rashford, Aubameyang, Partey and Vardy are arguably all better him.

That's 20 players right there and I'm still missing a few. Now some of these might be debatable but my initial point stands. He's a 15-20 player at best.
 
How so? Mane, Salah, VVD, Thiago, TAA, Fabinho, KDB, Bernardo Silva, Sterling, Kane, Son, Kante, Thiago Silva, Pulisic, Ziyech, Bruno, Rashford, Aubameyang, Partey and Vardy are arguably all better him.

That's 20 players right there and I'm still missing a few. Now some of these might be debatable but my initial point stands. He's a 15-20 player at best.
He's been outperforming every one of those players this season except for Kane.
 
How so? Mane, Salah, VVD, Thiago, TAA, Fabinho, KDB, Bernardo Silva, Sterling, Kane, Son, Kante, Thiago Silva, Pulisic, Ziyech, Bruno, Rashford, Aubameyang, Partey and Vardy are arguably all better him.

That's 20 players right there and I'm still missing a few. Now some of these might be debatable but my initial point stands. He's a 15-20 player at best.
Kane, Son, Salah, Mane, Thiago, VVD, KDB, Bruno better, same level as Ziyech, Rashford, TAA, the rest no.
 
He's been outperforming every one of those players this season except for Kane.
That's true but so have Calvert-Lewin and Bamford, that doesn't make him better than anyone in that list.

Kane, Son, Salah, Mane, Thiago, VVD, KDB, Bruno better, same level as Ziyech, Rashford, TAA, the rest no.
There's many players I can choose but how is he better than Aubameyang? Surely that's recency bias. Grealish is in better form than him atm no doubt about that, but a better player, no chance.
 
As good as he is, the guy was never worth 80 million. Just another absurdly overestimated player in today's climate. With his new contract the price will only be going up. It's a pointless endeavour to waste our time on him unless he has a massive meltdown, alienate the whole club against him with a transfer request and manages somehow to lower the asking price to a reasonable fee. If Villa got relegated last season maybe we could have tried to get him for around 45-50 but even then they might have not wanted to sell for such a fee. Players of his ilk like Rice and Sancho will only go for extortionate fees. We've got more than a few players who've we overspend on and will never get what we paid for. Time to get smarter and look for worthwhile deals.
 
A no go then. Utd spending 100m on a player is next to impossible especially in a window we`ll still be recovering from the pandemic incurred losses
No source named in that linked-to Telegraph article that I can see; they're just trying to suggest that they can directly link a figure that's been bandied about by quite a few people to the club itself, but without a named source it remains hearsay (a bloke putting out cones at Bodymoor Heath refusing to deny that Grealish is worth a figure when it's shouted at him by someone standing a hundred yards away behind a hedge isn't the same as someone in the inner sanctum letting slip the club actually value him at that figure). That article is plain clickbait, trading on Grealish being the current flavour of the month. Since Villa's match with Newcastle has been called off, they have to shoehorn him into a story somehow.
 
I've said it before but I watched 99% of Malaga's games in 12/13. They were one of my favourite teams to watch which is why I was gutted City hired Pellegrini. Especially as we got Moyes instead, but I digress.

Point is, whilst Isco was brilliant that year and I wanted him as much as anyone, Grealish has been even better.

Nope!

In the summer whilst everyone was obsessing over Sancho and saying they'd rather have Donny, I was saying Grealish would be our best signing and that he'd quickly become our best an most important player. I wanted us to pay whatever it took.

I've wanted him here for years.

Nope!

Grealish is a brilliant DLP. Some of his best stuff came in a midfield 3 where he'd be the one to stay deep with a DM whilst McGinn was the CM to get forward.

I've been saying this for ages. I'm glad others are seeing this. We don't have anyone as good as him.
What qualities would you say Jack is showing over Isco (back then)
 
That's true but so have Calvert-Lewin and Bamford, that doesn't make him better than anyone in that list.


There's many players I can choose but how is he better than Aubameyang? Surely that's recency bias. Grealish is in better form than him atm no doubt about that, but a better player, no chance.
It's hard to compare players from different positions, but I think he's comfortably better than Pulisic for example. A lot of those players definitely have the body of work and consistency to back them up. Guess we need to just wait and see. He's certainly in the best form.
 
What qualities would you say Jack is showing over Isco (back then)
I'd say they were both equal in terms of dribbling, resisting pressing opposition with close control and strength when shielding the ball, and influencing their teams general play the most.

The one thing Isco was better at was short link-up play, but he played with higher quality players than Jack who - for the most part - has played with teammates who just can't keep up with him. Isco was constantly forming nice patterns of play with Portillo, Joaquin, Saviola, Santa Cruz, Piazon, etc, whilst Grealish has only really had McGinn.

What really puts Grealish above Isco for me is a few things. First, he's a much better passer. Isco, imo, has never really been great at playing killer passes wheras Grealish splits open opposition teams time and time again. Second, Grealish is more of a goal threat. Lastly, I think Grealish's mentality is on another level. As I said before, Isco was the main influence of Malaga's good football, but he never came across as that leader who drives hie team on through thick and thin. Imo, Grealish has that mentality. He reminds of Beckham in that regard.
 
Imagine having one more player with a similar impact as Bruno. Different qualities, but same ability to change a match for his team. Just entering his prime as a footballer.
 
Imagine having one more player with a similar impact as Bruno. Different qualities, but same ability to change a match for his team. Just entering his prime as a footballer.
As most know I think very little of him as a person but as a footballer on talent alone he’s very good and would win us plenty of free kicks penalties and I’m sure games along the way.

My huge and still remaining concern is his behaviour off the pitch which under the spotlight at a club like United combined with him becoming a figure in the England set up I think would be too much for him to handle. If he could however finally grow the feck up and stop being a horrifically entitled and careless human being all of a sudden then I’d be happy to give him a chance.

But the likelihood of this leopard changing their spots is about the same as us paying £100m for him so it’s not worth debating.
 
As most know I think very little of him as a person but as a footballer on talent alone he’s very good and would win us plenty of free kicks penalties and I’m sure games along the way.

My huge and still remaining concern is his behaviour off the pitch which under the spotlight at a club like United combined with him becoming a figure in the England set up I think would be too much for him to handle. If he could however finally grow the feck up and stop being a horrifically entitled and careless human being all of a sudden then I’d be happy to give him a chance.

But the likelihood of this leopard changing their spots is about the same as us paying £100m for him so it’s not worth debating.

What makes you think it will be “too much to handle?” aside from blind dislike?

He’s villa captain, and handled the England situation really well (not being picked or played, when clearly he deserves too).

He is however, too expensive for us, or anyone else. So won’t be going anywhere.
 
What makes you think it will be “too much to handle?” aside from blind dislike?

He’s villa captain, and handled the England situation really well (not being picked or played, when clearly he deserves too).

He is however, too expensive for us, or anyone else. So won’t be going anywhere.
It’s not a blind dislike. He has consistently shown himself to be a bit of a dickhead off the pitch. Most players have the odd indiscretion here and there but even at a relatively mature age he’s still not grown out of it.

Blind dislike would be to have absolutely no reason. United players come under the most scrutiny from fans, pundits and media even when in top form and fully behaved for example Rashford has been scoring assisting and solving UK issues yet still gets slated how do you think the media will portray Jack if he once again puts himself or others at risk with his stupidity?

It’s clear Jack loves the limelight at Villa but let’s be honest the coverage of that club and relative pressures are nowhere near the same level. I am most encouraged by his performances for England though.
 
Him and Bruno would be like our own Kane and Son. The super duo of two arguably best players in the PL. I do believe the 4 aforementioned players are currently the best in the PL.
Would be nice to have two of them.
By selling Pogba and Martial, we could afford Grealish and the difference would be huge.
ha ha ... reading this just after saying exactly the same about selling those two to finance Grealish in the post-match thread
 
As most know I think very little of him as a person but as a footballer on talent alone he’s very good and would win us plenty of free kicks penalties and I’m sure games along the way.

My huge and still remaining concern is his behaviour off the pitch which under the spotlight at a club like United combined with him becoming a figure in the England set up I think would be too much for him to handle. If he could however finally grow the feck up and stop being a horrifically entitled and careless human being all of a sudden then I’d be happy to give him a chance.

But the likelihood of this leopard changing their spots is about the same as us paying £100m for him so it’s not worth debating.
Rooney handled it so why not Jack
 
Imagine having one more player with a similar impact as Bruno. Different qualities, but same ability to change a match for his team. Just entering his prime as a footballer.

Being captain at 24 also tells you the guy has leadership qualities in abundance. If we had sold Pogba and Martial in January to fund Grealish i am confident we would improve a lot. Hell, throw in Phil Jones and Lindgard as well to sweeten the deal