GREALISH SEALS RECORD £100m CITY SWITCH
City land Grealish for £100m as Villa spend big on Ings
JACK GREALISH will become the first English £100million footballer after he agreed to leave Aston Villa for Manchester City last night. The 25-year-old will be officially confirmed as a City player over the next 24 hours after undergoing a medical and signing a five-year contract yesterday.
The Premier League champions broke the British transfer record by activating a clause in Grealish’s contract last week. It is a huge statement of intent from City, who are prepared to break that transfer record again before the end of this month to land Harry Kane from Tottenham.
Sportsmail revealed in March that City had become favourites to sign Grealish and they have maintained a dogged pursuit. They opened official talks last week and offered the £100m clause figure in full on Friday.
Grealish returned from holiday in Dubrovnik at the start of this week and remained respectful to his boyhood club by resuming training. He spoke with sporting director Johan Lange and discussed taking the next step up in his career with chief executive Christian Purslow and chairman Nassef Sawiris.
Villa had tried hard to convince Grealish to stay. They had offered him a new deal, barely 11 months after he signed his last, and outlined their ambition to challenge the top six.
They underlined that ambition by pulling off a shock £30m swoop for Southampton striker Danny Ings — to take their spending to £60m in just one day.
They confirmed the £30m arrival of Bayer Leverkusen winger Leon Bailey — a move exclusively revealed by Sportsmail last month — earlier in the day.
Ings, 29, had rejected signing a new contract at Southampton in the hope of joining a club higher up the league and playing Champions League football. But Villa are appealing to targets with their ambition and Ings (right) decided he wanted to join Dean Smith’s overhaul, signing a three-year deal.
Ings is the fourth summer signing after Emi Buendia, Ashley Young and Bailey but Villa are plotting further signings, including Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe on loan.
Manager Dean Smith, who described Ings as a leader and ‘an outstanding Premier League footballer who has scored goals wherever he has played,’ also wants Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse and Todd Cantwell of Norwich while Burnley’s Dwight McNeil remains of interest. Those plans will do little to appease some Villa fans unhappy at losing Grealish but they can take some consolation from the fact the fee is being reinvested. City manager Pep Guardiola has been open about his admiration for Grealish, calling him ‘an exceptional player’. Grealish will now get the platform he has craved and many felt he deserved after his cameos for England at Euro 2020. The formalities could be completed in time for Saturday’s Community Shield against Leicester City.