£20 million would not buy Jack Grealish’s right leg, Leicester City told
£20 million would merely suffice to buy Jack Grealish’s right leg, Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce has told Leicester City.
The Foxes have recently been linked to the young Englishman, with the reports suggesting that they’d move for him if the Villans fail in their promotion bid.
However, Steve Bruce can only laugh off the rumours, and particularly the valuation that has been set for his star man Jack Grealish.
Addressing the speculation after his side’s 4-0 win over Ipswich Town, while he didn’t necessarily sound reluctant to sell the 22-year old, he let Leicester City – or anyone else looking to sign the midfielder – know that £20 million certainly isn’t the price.
"“I saw Leicester for £20m,” said Bruce.“That money now gets you a Harry Maguire, who played 30 times for Hull.“Sam Clucas was £20m. No disrespect to them – I had both players – but how can you have Jack at that price?“Jordan Henderson was £19million when I sold him to Liverpool from Sunderland eight years ago.“You would have to double that to think about even blinking. Reports are reports. I am going to have that all summer, I would think.“I am delighted Jack is getting recognition for what he is doing on the pitch.“But I think I can safely say £20million would not buy his right leg at the moment, that is for sure”."
Bruce’s words are everything that you need to know about the state of the transfer market in the modern era. Anyone even partly good costs you a hefty amount these days, and this is Jack Grealish that we are talking about – an incredibly talented player who would be world-class in the next couple of seasons or so.
The former Hull City boss therefore can’t be blamed for asking for more, as this is what happens these days. When all the other clubs – Leicester City included – try to cash in as much as possible on their best players, Steve Bruce would want that, too, especially if Aston Villa fail to get back into the Premier League.
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Leicester might make quite an amount of money if they manage to sell Riyad Mahrez for the amount that they have been holding out for, and spending some of that on Grealish won’t be the worst bit of business.