Jack Grealish
Jack Grealish
There is a 'strong possibility' that Jack Grealish could return to Aston Villa this summer - but such a move would be most likely on a loan basis. According to the Mirror, there remains a chance of a reunion between Villa and Grealish, who is all set to depart Manchester City this summer, but his wages and contractual situation mean a loan exit is likeliest.
Grealish, who turns 30 in September, left Villa in 2021 when banking his boyhood club £100m, a fee Man City paid which made him then the most expensive English player of all time. He has since won the Premier League three times, as well as the FA Cup and the Champions League.
The winger, though, has fallen down Pep Guardiola's pecking order in more recent months; the additions of Savinho and Jeremy Doku in the past few seasons have made it trickier for Grealish to earn himself a run in the starting XI.
Guardiola, who has left the playmaker out of his Club World Cup squad this summer, even admitted towards the end of the season that certainly that he should be playing regularly irrespective of where that may be.
He said: "Of course Jack has to play. He's an unbelievable player that has to play football every three days. It didn't happen this season and last season either. He needs to do it. With us or another place. It's a question for Jack, his agent and the club."
Grealish is reported to be on in the region of £300,000 a week and still has two years remaining on the six-year contract he agreed when making the switch to The Etihad Stadium having helped Villa re-establish themselves back in the Premier League following promotion via the play-offs in 2019.
Villa are likely to be after another winger in the market this summer; Marcus Rashford has left the club at the end of his loan spell, while Leon Bailey could leave the club having fallen out of favour under Unai Emery this past season. Emery must also make calls on the futures of returning loanees Emiliano Buendia and Samuel Iling-Junior, too.
Whether Grealish is a viable target for Villa, as far as finances go but also in terms of whether or not he is the profile of player Emery and president of football operations Monchi will be after when they go shopping in the market, remains to be seen.
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