Grealish To City? | City bid £100M

[King Kay]

That's just silly.

Or you could just go watch Willian in 15/16 season and come back again. He was top class, so good we reportedly rejected 40m from Barcelona for him. So yes very good player but nowhere near £100m.
And yes he was just around the same prime age as Grealish now.

 

[Rojofiam]

Great player, would love to see him at United but we don't need him at the moment and we definitely shouldn't be paying 100m+ for him.

I don't understand some people's outrage over this one, we've done some shrewd fecking business this summer and other teams will sign good players too. If Grealish was one of the best CDMs in the world, maybe I'd also be pissed, but even then 100m is still very overpriced IMO.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

The biggest/only notable difference in performance is Grealish wins a lot more fouls and Sancho scores more goals and has a much better shot selection (and more touches in midfield and attack, but you could make arguments about why that is).

Grealish was playing in a tougher league and for a worse team. Hand on heart I’d expect more from Grealish this season than Sancho, providing Grealish signs for City. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Grealish won POTY.

Both are massive talents though.

 

[bosnian_red]

Grealish was playing in a tougher league and for a worse team. Hand on heart I’d expect more from Grealish this season than Sancho, providing Grealish signs for City. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Grealish won POTY.

Both are massive talents though.

That's fine, Sancho is 5 years younger and this past season pre injury that ruled him out for a few months in the 2nd half was the first time that Grealish showed that level, while Sancho showed it for a few years already. Sancho is coming to a new league while Grealish is staying in the same league and going to the favourites for the league. Both are terrific players and for me the biggest difference for why I prefer Sancho is Sancho is equally capable of playing RW or LW IMO, while Grealish is strictly a LW or #10 so just not a need for me. If you compare their stats in previous years it's not that close though, which speaks volumes due to Sancho's age (and then Grealish also playing in the championship the whole time).

Edit: Bigger gap between them in 19/20 as seen here (though comparing only Prem for Grealish and only Bundesliga for Sancho rather than all the big leagues against each other). Sancho pretty much maintained his level overall while Grealish improved and became more rounded/effective, which isn't what you'd expect given their ages.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

That's fine, Sancho is 5 years younger and this past season pre injury that ruled him out for a few months in the 2nd half was the first time that Grealish showed that level, while Sancho showed it for a few years already. Sancho is coming to a new league while Grealish is staying in the same league and going to the favourites for the league. Both are terrific players and for me the biggest difference for why I prefer Sancho is Sancho is equally capable of playing RW or LW IMO, while Grealish is strictly a LW or #10 so just not a need for me. If you compare their stats in previous years it's not that close though, which speaks volumes due to Sancho's age (and then Grealish also playing in the championship the whole time).

I 100% agree that Sancho was the more better signing for us. I really like Grealish but he’s not what we need at the moment.

 

[cyberman]

Sancho is the only player (since records began according to the Bundesligs video they released) to ever beat 15 goals and 15 assists in a German season. At 21. On a side that struggled for top 4.
According to Transfer market, he has 74 goals and 75 assists in 181 games. Thats alnost double Jacks goals tally and 50 percent more assits while being 5 years younger.
He is the perfect widemen.
This lazy comparison takes away what a phenomenon Jadon is. They arent comparable at all.

 

[Ramshock]

he is barely worth £50M ffs

 

[bosnian_red]

Sancho is the only player (since records began according to the Bundesligs video they released) to ever beat 15 goals and 15 assists in a German season. At 21. On a side that struggled for top 4.
According to Transfer market, he has 74 goals and 75 assists in 181 games. Thats alnost double Jacks goals tally and 50 percent more assits while being 5 years younger.
He is the perfect widemen.
This lazy comparison takes away what a phenomenon Jadon is. They arent comparable at all.

To add to that, only Mbappe has more league goals and assists before their 20th birthday in Europe's big 5 leagues in the modern football era where a big 5 league thing really developed (90's and later), and only covid stopped Sancho from passing Mbappe (has just 1 more, covid cut Sancho's season a few weeks before his 20th birthday). That's generational talent level of production.

 

[Acole9]

Bit gutted it looks like he's going there but it's not the end of the world. £100 million is a lot of money and we've already spent quite a bit.

 

[Sandikan]

Sancho is the only player (since records began according to the Bundesligs video they released) to ever beat 15 goals and 15 assists in a German season. At 21. On a side that struggled for top 4.
According to Transfer market, he has 74 goals and 75 assists in 181 games. Thats alnost double Jacks goals tally and 50 percent more assits while being 5 years younger.
He is the perfect widemen.
This lazy comparison takes away what a phenomenon Jadon is. They arent comparable at all.

I certainly hope Sancho does what he's been doing in this league.

But you say it yourself you made a lazy comparison.
Grealish in a bang average Villa team versus Sancho in a fairly strong Dortmund team.

If Watkins and the rest of hapless FC finished even half of the chances Grealish created last season, he'd have set all time premier league assist records.

 

[Highfather_24]

Do we need Grealish? No. He's a LW/#10 and its among our strongest positions. We need a CM, RB and CF more right now.That however doesnt mean Grealish is not an upgrade on Rashford. For eg : Just because we have Maguire and Varane and dont need a CB, doesnt mean that Ruben Dias isnt an upgrade on both of them. He is better(not by much), but we dont need him.

For me on current ability, Grealish is an upgrade on Rashford/Sancho for the LW position. However I think Sancho has a higher ceiling. And for me, he is as good as Bruno(although different type of players). If you dont count penalty goals, there's not much between them statistically. Non-penalty G+A/90 for Bruno is 0.61, while for Grealish is 0.66. Grealish has better keypasses per 90, his passing accuracy is higher, and is a better dribbler. And lets not forget he is playing for Aston Villa. I would personally not swap Bruno for Grealish though, because although I think football wise they are equals, Bruno is our talisman and leader and that cannot be quantified with stats.

But yes, we dont need him. Lets see how he does at City. I think he will prove a lot of people wrong, those who are saying he wouldnt get in this United side, or that he's no better than other City players.

 

[El Jefe]

I don't get the posters lamenting us not signing him. Simply put it was him or Sancho. Their games are very similar and I'm happy with our choice. A front three of Grealish Cavani Sancho will have all the creativity but lack goal scoring. Having Rashford or Greenwood is vital to adding an extra goal scoring dimension to the attack IMO.

I think a lot of posters that think Grealish is a level above what we have will be extremely surprised at just how good Sancho is.

 

[bosnian_red]

I don't get the posters lamenting us not signing him. Simply put it was him or Sancho. Their games are very similar and I'm happy with our choice. A front three of Grealish Cavani Sancho will have all the creativity but lack goal scoring. Having Rashford or Greenwood is vital to adding an extra goal scoring dimension to the attack IMO.

I think a lot of posters that think Grealish is a level above what we have will be extremely surprised at just how good Sancho is.

Yep pretty much this. Though Sancho being equally capable on either wing means we can play either Rashford or Greenwood at their best rather than push Rashford out of position which is a pretty big thing IMO. We're probably the only team in the wold where signing Grealish wouldn't really change anything for us and he doesn't necessarily walk into our team, given we have Rashford, Bruno, Pogba, Greenwood, now Sancho... we can't fit them all together as it is.

 

[Kablamo]

To me Grealish right now is just a prime Willian (15/16). The Chelsea guys in here will probably be the only ones to get what I'm saying. That is nowhere near a £100m fee. City are getting totally fleeced here and I'm glad Chelsea are playing no part in this.

Agree. Strip back the try hard maverick stuff and he's just Willian with his socks down, doing the occasional rescue act.

The cult of Grealish is odd, I heard someone during the Euros describing it as repressed homosexuality seeping out of blokish blokes. I don't neccesarily agree, but it was an interesting take.

He'll become a one dimensional cog at City, setting up sweaty goals and being Gotze'd by Pep and he won't like it. Sancho has a higher ceiling and will prove to be the better signing every day of the week.

Meanwhile as City and United fans argue Sancho v Grealish out, Jorginho's eleven penalties will take us to the title.

 

[flappyjay]

I certainly hope Sancho does what he's been doing in this league.

But you say it yourself you made a lazy comparison.
Grealish in a bang average Villa team versus Sancho in a fairly strong Dortmund team.

If Watkins and the rest of hapless FC finished even half of the chances Grealish created last season, he'd have set all time premier league assist records.

You also make the argument that the Villa attack goes through Jack. At city he probably won't be given the ball at every moment like he was at Villa same thing happened to Mahrez. The streets have forgotten how good Mahrez was at leicester.

 

[Jim Beam]

100 million is crazy money, but that's peanuts for them and they simply don't care. If it doesn't work they can spend 200 million next season on someone else.

I do think he improves them and they need someone who will penetrate the lines more often. They can play him in previous David Silva role alongside De Bruyne, on LW or try him as a false 9 in some games and I also think City system will elevate him as a player after some time of adapting. On the other hand, there is absolutely no sense for us in buying him with other priorities in the team and for that kind of money.

That said, Pep is bound to put him on a wingback or DM in some deciding CL tie.

 

[bosnian_red]

I certainly hope Sancho does what he's been doing in this league.

But you say it yourself you made a lazy comparison.
Grealish in a bang average Villa team versus Sancho in a fairly strong Dortmund team.

If Watkins and the rest of hapless FC finished even half of the chances Grealish created last season, he'd have set all time premier league assist records.

No he wouldn't have. He got 10 assists from 9.33 xA. He was injured a good chunk which drags his total number down, but his per 90 xA is 0.38, De Bruyne's was 0.49.

Also this always gets brought up but it goes both ways. In a bigger team, the team is less reliant on you so you get less time to do whatever you want on the ball which he did at Villa, where the entire game flowed through him. Villa was not a dominant team so they didn't come up against very defensive teams, meaning a lot more space for him to play on the counter or in end to end games. Sancho played for a high possession dominant team which came up against deep opposition pretty often, but yes played with better players. Sancho put up equally good stats whether his striker was Paco Alcacer or Erling Haaland though, so I wouldn't read much into that.

 

[Houdini]

Varane and Sancho deals look like a steal compared to Grealish for 100mil. A TOP CDM and/or a backup RB should be our priorities anyway.

 

[Offsideagain]

City are moving fast before the PL impose some sort of sanctions after the investigation that City didn’t want the public to know about is concluded. £100m is way too much , he would be City’s most expensive signing by some margin. Just paper talk.

 

[cyberman]

I certainly hope Sancho does what he's been doing in this league.

But you say it yourself you made a lazy comparison.
Grealish in a bang average Villa team versus Sancho in a fairly strong Dortmund team.

If Watkins and the rest of hapless FC finished even half of the chances Grealish created last season, he'd have set all time premier league assist records.

That would make sense if he and Sancho were the same age? Sancho has already outstripped him and he is 5 years younger and its not as if Jack has years of top class performances behind him. He is 27 next month. Watkins didnt miss 5 years worth of chances in the 2/3 of that one season that Jack was fit for.
Sancho was setting records with Alcacer as a striker. Thats another difference, Sancho is a goalscoring threat who doesnt rely on Ollie Watkins to score goals

 

[horsechoker]

That said, Pep is bound to put him on a wingback or DM in some deciding CL tie.

We love to see it

 

[Kablamo]

That's just silly.

You laugh but you've been hoodwinked.

Grealish is the West Midlands Willian and one day you'll all wake up and see it.

 

[Rolaholic]

Would be funny seeing them pull this off weeks after Pep was publicly claiming poverty over high striker fees only to spend a PL record fee for Grealish

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The pundit reactions to his fee compared to other high fees paid by other clubs will be will be night and day different I'm sure

 

[Escobar]

Based on the hype, I was expecting big things at the Euros. Whenever he came on, he just didnt set the world on fire. Certainly a good player for City, but just not the next Ronaldinho

 

[Threesus]

Would be funny seeing them pull this off weeks after Pep was publicly claiming poverty over high striker fees only to spend a PL record fee for Grealish

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Tbf, the pressure on him is enormous. Yet he almost always delivers the league, at the minimum.
9 league titles in 13 years is crazy.

 

[horsechoker]

Based on the hype, I was expecting big things at the Euros. Whenever he came on, he just didnt set the world on fire. Certainly a good player for City, but just not the next Ronaldinho

He barely played and made the difference in the game against Germany.

 

[Reddevildans]

I can imagine pep rotating his attackers a lot. Therefore he will most likely start 60-70% of thier games. Just ask fantasy Premier league players how hard its to guess citys starting eleven. Considering that it is a huge sum. I guess he and city won't care as long as they win trophies which they will this season (they always get easy runs in the domestic cups). He's a phenomenal talent and just oozes a united player more than anything.

 

[Andycoleno9]

I still struggle to understand why Pep wants Grealish. Great player but he is not a player who plays quick one-twos or dribbles past players. And plays on Sterling's position.
Again, great player but not for City's style of football

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Where will he play? They are stacked for talent both on the wing & in the middle and they don’t play with a 10? Will he really play De Bruyne & Grealish as 2 8s together? Could be murdered on the counter.

 

[Castia]

Up a level? Overrated?

Christ what do you watch? First of all City don't need to improve to win the league again! There still the best team in the league and all this does is sadly given them a excellent chance of winning it again when the season starts.

For me it's a kick in the teeth as we just can't compete with the oil merchants. Let's not forget Ole still not proven he's good enough (IMO) tactically to match Pep & Klopp.

Grealish will relish playing with better players and you'll see a even better player than you've seen already. Not sure were it leaves Sterling though. They could have him as a false striker with Grealish taking his slot or maybe even sell him.

Yeah overrated tell me what do you watch?? what has he done in the last 2 years that makes him a world class player? his first season in the Prem was alright, he helped Villa stay up by 1 point on the last day and last season he was out injured a lot before barely playing at the Euro's. He's spent more time in the Championship than the Premier League.

Good player but Jesus i've never seen a more over-hyped player in my fecking life it's insane.

Top class at winning fouls though *rolls eyes*

Bruno and De Bruyne are in another league to this guy and it will show this season

 

[RedSky]

Varane and Sancho deals look like a steal compared to Grealish for 100mil. A TOP CDM and/or a backup RB should be our priorities anyway.

Exactly. 100m for Grealish is insanity. What City really needed was a proper striker. I'm pretty happy with them throwing all that cash at Grealish, think it's a sidestep for them rather than a big upgrade.

 

[MDFC Manager]

They can't afford a striker apparently. My heart bleeds

Awful that rich boys Villa are charging poor Pep £100m

 

[marktan]

Yeah overrated tell me what do you watch?? what has he done in the last 2 years that makes him a world class player? his first season in the Prem was alright, he helped Villa stay up by 1 point on the last day and last season he was out injured a lot before barely playing at the Euro's. He's spent more time in the Championship than the Premier League.

Good player but Jesus i've never seen a more over-hyped player in my fecking life it's insane.

Top class at winning fouls though *rolls eyes*

I watched pretty much every Vila game he played the last 2 seasons and he is right up there. Not world class yet because he hasn't played at the top level with top players but his level was so far above his team mates it's unreal. His ability to beat a man, play the final pass, finish is right up there.

Have you watched him play regularly? I can't be bothered to break down the last 2 seasons but there's a whole host of things that went on. First season in the PL Wesley got injured and they had no striker to play with. Last season they eere in the top 5 until he got injured, then dropped to like 12th during the period he was out. People talk about Sancho but Grealish has scored almost the exact same % of his team's goals in the league in the last 2 seasons.

He will easily tear it up for City, it's not even a question. With the amount of attacking talent they have he'll be assisting and scoring for fun.

 

[Idxomer]

You laugh but you've been hoodwinked.

Grealish is the West Midlands Willian and one day you'll all wake up and see it.

Can't argue with that

 

[Castia]

I watched pretty much every Vila game he played the last 2 seasons and he is right up there. Not world class yet because he hasn't played at the top level with top players but his level was so far above his team mates it's unreal. His ability to beat a man, play the final pass, finish is right up there.

Have you watched him play regularly? I can't be bothered to break down the last 2 seasons but there's a whole host of things that went on. First season in the PL Wesley got injured and they had no striker to play with. Last season they eere in the top 5 until he got injured, then dropped to like 12th during the period he was out. People talk about Sancho but Grealish has scored almost the exact same % of his team's goals in the league in the last 2 seasons.

He will easily tear it up for City, it's not even a question. With the amount of attacking talent they have he'll be assisting and scoring for fun.

What does that stat even show though it's such a bizarre thing that means nothing? Sancho has out scored and out assisted Grealish every single season since he was 17

I mean I know the end result isn't everything but in that position it's so important, a quick comparison with Bruno and in the 18 months he's been at United I think he's scored/created/assisted more goals than Grealish has in his entire career

He's a good player but i just don't get where this hype has come from over the last 4-5 months it's insane.

 

[Highfather_24]

Only KdB has been more creative than him in the League, and that too not by much. Followed by Bruno. For me, they are all in the same league ability wise, with KdB being slightly better than both. While Bruno is a better goalscorer, Grealish is more creative, there's not much between them tbh. Stats taken from here.

Goals(w/o pens)+Assists/90

KdB : 0.72
Grealish : 0.66
Bruno : 0.61

xA/90

KdB : 0.46
Grealish : 0.35
Bruno : 0.32

Shots Created/90

KdB : 6.40
Grealish : 6.18
Bruno : 4.88

The fact that KdB and Grealish are now going to be in the same team is scary. Grealish can play for them as an #8 like Silva played or wide as a LW. He is better than all their options bar KdB. I really hope they dont get Kane as well.

 

[Robertd0803]

He obviously will be great at City (hes already pretty great at Villa ffs) just wish Villa would make this in to a saga and draw it out as long as possible and mess with Citys plans as much as possible.

 

[Bubz27]

Villa about to sign Leon Bailey. Jack's replacement?

 

[bond19821982]

Only KdB has been more creative than him in the League, and that too not by much. Followed by Bruno. For me, they are all in the same league ability wise, with KdB being slightly better than both. While Bruno is a better goalscorer, Grealish is more creative, there's not much between them tbh. Stats taken from here.

Goals(w/o pens)+Assists/90

KdB : 0.72
Grealish : 0.66
Bruno : 0.61

xA/90

KdB : 0.46
Grealish : 0.35
Bruno : 0.32

Shots Created/90

KdB : 6.40
Grealish : 6.18
Bruno : 4.88

The fact that KdB and Grealish are now going to be in the same team is scary. Grealish can play for them as an #8 like Silva played or wide as a LW. He is better than all their options bar KdB. I really hope they dont get Kane as well.

You are assuming Grealish will get the same freedom at City . It doesn't work like that. I would be very surprised if he gets the same numbers while playing with KDB. Just like how Gundagon is way better when KDB is out, Grealish will struggle to get that numbers with KDB in lineup.

Great signing for them- yes, but not actually required. Sterling and Mahrez is a better fit to that City line-up. If Pep is planning to fit in KDB and Grealish in midfield, they need a better DM than their existing options.

Would be interesting.

 

[Sandikan]

No he wouldn't have. He got 10 assists from 9.33 xA. He was injured a good chunk which drags his total number down, but his per 90 xA is 0.38, De Bruyne's was 0.49.

Also this always gets brought up but it goes both ways. In a bigger team, the team is less reliant on you so you get less time to do whatever you want on the ball which he did at Villa, where the entire game flowed through him. Villa was not a dominant team so they didn't come up against very defensive teams, meaning a lot more space for him to play on the counter or in end to end games. Sancho played for a high possession dominant team which came up against deep opposition pretty often, but yes played with better players. Sancho put up equally good stats whether his striker was Paco Alcacer or Erling Haaland though, so I wouldn't read much into that.

From what?
I'm basing what I said on actually watching every minute Grealish played for Villa, and seeing Watkins and the other "forwards" consistently screw up.
Yes, De Bruyne, or Ozil the season he was on fire wouldn't have seen their strikers put every chance away, but the converted chances were woefully low.