Manchester City’s Jack Grealish had rejected on opportunity to join Tottenham Hotspur when he was at Aston Villa.
That’s according to the winger’s father, Kevin, and he made this claim during an interview with Norway’s VG.
Tottenham showed interest in the 28-year-old when Mauricio Pochettino was in charge at the club and VG state the manager ‘really wanted’ him at Spurs at a time when Aston Villa were in the Championship.
Jack came up through the ranks of the Villans’ youth system and his father didn’t want his son to leave Villa Park cheaply.
“I said put some real money on the table. I didn’t want to see the club in our hearts robbed of money,” he said.
It’s claimed Spurs initially offered €8m before tabling a second offer and then a €25m bid with a ‘fat five-year contract’ for the England international. Jack’s father was unhappy with the strategy used by Tottenham to acquire his son’s signature.
“I said ‘no, Jack is not going’. Something was not right. They tried to get him cheap. For pennies. Maybe I was naive, but I said ‘we’re not going’,” Kevin explained.
The Manchester City star’s father has also admitted that he questioned his decision to discourage his son from joining Tottenham after they made it to the Champions League final in 2019.
“I thought ‘have I made a complete fool of myself?’, ‘have I messed it up?’. And ‘will Jack ever get the chance to play against such great players?’
“It was Jack who got them up. When he returned and became captain, the odds were 20 to manage promotion. I know it’s a team game, but still… The next year he was also the one who kept Villa up. Then he left for £100m,” he added.
Pep Guardiola’s side signed Jack from Aston Villa in 2021 and the latter won the treble with the Citizens last season. He’s managed one assist from eight games this season.
