Had things gone very differently, then Tottenham Hotspur’s game against Aston Villa could have been an uneasy homecoming for Jack Grealish at Villa Park, but instead, the 24-year-old displayed why the north Londoners made a colossal mistake in not signing him.
Spurs ran out 3-2 victors, but that didn’t stop Grealish looking like the star on the field.
Per SofaScore, the Villa midfielder recorded five key passes, had a 100% long-ball accuracy rate, created two big chances and two successful dribbles. This earned him an 8.3 rating, the second-highest of any starter – only match-winner Heung-min Son recorded more.
By comparison, Jose Mourinho’s number ten – Dele Alli – had a disastrous showing, which only emphasises what could have been.
He missed four big chances, had 28 fewer touches of the ball and was dribbled past on two occasions, handing him the lowest rating of any player to feature at 5.5, again via SofaScore.
18 months ago, the home captain was on the verge of joining Spurs for just £6m – six million pounds.
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Villa were then strapped for cash and faced the dire prospects of going into administration but Daniel Levy, as he normally does, was too stingy and believed he could get him for £1m-2m less.
Instead of paying the £6m, Levy boarded a flight, and by the time he landed, the Midlanders had been sold, and they no longer were desperate to sell, according to The Sun.
They had planned to offer £20m after that, but Villa were asking for double that, and now it is believed that Grealish is worth £80m with Manchester United potentially exploring that this summer.
Levy is well renowned for his tough negotiations, but to be so tight on a mere couple of million has been one of his biggest mistakes ever – £6m into £80m is substantial growth, and that’s been backed up by his performances in those 18 months too.
Premier League Inflation: You won’t believe how much these famous transfers would cost today…
Across the last two seasons, Grealish has found the net 15 times whilst he has also provided 16 assists, per Transfermarkt, so he has certainly stepped up to the Premier League’s demands.
No player in the Spurs squad can even match some of his numbers in the top-flight this campaign as the 24-year-old is averaging 2.8 key passes and 2.4 dribbles per game, via WhoScored, despite 15 points separating the two teams in the table.
Things could have been very different had Levy pulled out his wallet, but sadly, this is an all too familiar occurrence at Tottenham – only this one must sting considerably more after this latest showing.
And in other news, here is Gary Lineker’s FOUR-WORD verdict on £72m-rated Spurs ace…
