Tottenham leading the race to sign Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish

With the World Cup going on the transfer rumors about Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish have gone a little quiet lately. However, the Birmingham Mail has stepped in with an article that suggests that Tottenham Hotspur are still favorites to sign the Villa academy grad before the close of the transfer window.

When it comes to transfer rumors, often times its the regional papers that get the scoops first. So when the Birmingham Mail weighs in that is usually enough to get me to take a closer look. And they say that Spurs are the only big club that are showing any serious interest! So that’s the good news. The bad news is that the Mail is saying that apparently there still hasn’t been a formal bid.

The Birmingham Mail lists Grealish’s value at about £30m, but that Spurs want him at about £15m. The implication is that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is biding his time hoping to snag Grealish on the cheap. Which would be an exceptionally Daniel Levy thing to do. Aston Villa are kind of over a barrel at the moment, which puts Spurs in a fantastic position from which to negotiate. I would guess that when it’s all said and done Grealish will probably go for more than £15m, but I’m willing to bet it’ll be a lot less than £30m.

Spurs would be a pretty fantastic place for Grealish to land, and he’d make a young and capable backup for Christian Eriksen, with a lot of room for growth. It’d be a fantastic depth signing with the chance of Grealish turning into a really, really good player. It’s not over yet, but I’m willing to bet this one gets over the line before the close of the window.

Grealish is currently in Portugal in a preseason training camp with Villa.