BRUCE: SPURS FLUFFED GREALISH CHANCE
STEVE BRUCE says Jack Grealish would be a Tottenham player now if Spurs had done their summer transfer business earlier.
Spurs bid £25 million for the Aston Villa midfielder in the final days of the transfer window, but were told by Villa’s new owner Nassef Sawiris that Grealish was not for sale.
The player was understood to be “disillusioned” by the decision after being told he could leave Villa Park before the club brought in new investors in July.
Now, Bruce and the Villa hierarchy are planning to sit down with the 22-year-old and offer him a new contract by the end of the month.
Speaking to talkSPORT on Friday, Bruce said: “If Tottenham had done their work early he would be a Spurs player now.
“I think it’s important people hear that. We keep hearing that footballers don’t want to play, Jack’s knocking on my office at ten past nine demanding that he plays.
“Typical Jack. All the stories you hear about him, one thing I can tell you is that he wants to play.”
Grealish still has two years left on his current contract at Villa, but Bruce is prepared to pull out all the stops to keep the fans’ favourite happy and prevent a mass scramble for his signature in January.
“Obviously it’s difficult at the moment because we haven’t got a CEO to do those discussions,” Bruce added.
“But the owner - and I think we’ve learned from the owner very quickly what he says goes - he said by the end of the month we hope we can get an agreement with Jack and keep him here.”