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I Can Safely Say It Wouldn’t Buy His Right Leg

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A few days back spurious reports surfaced linking Leicester City with an interest in Aston Villa starlet Jack Grealish.

There was nothing in the reports to imply it was anything other than standard media invention that lent on the fact Jack’s had a good season and really started showing what he’s capable of. Clearly, he’ll be featuring in scout reports for a number of clubs as they update their databases.

Reactions amongst the fans were typically mixed. Some started to lose their marbles and expected this kind of speculation to grow, especially if we missed out on promotion this season. Others couldn’t see it happening regardless because of Jack’s love for the club – Leicester City are no Manchester City after all. Others focused in on the ‘picked out of the air’ fee of £20million and wondered where the rest of the money was when you fairly compared his potential to Riyad Mahrez and the fee they appear to have valued him at.

The Leicester Mercury are one of many to report Steve Bruce’s response to those claims and he’s not very complimentary himself when it comes to the valuation.

“I saw Leicester for £20m. That money now gets you a Harry Maguire, who played 30 times for Hull. Sam Clucas was £20m. No disrespect to them – I had both players – but how can you have Jack at that price? Jordan Henderson was £19million when I sold him to Liverpool from Sunderland eight years ago. You would have to double that to think about even blinking. Reports are reports. I am going to have that all summer, I would think. I am delighted Jack is getting recognition for what he is doing on the pitch. But I think I can safely say £20million would not buy his right leg at the moment, that is for sure.”

The Maguire link is a little spurious in fairness, defenders are always underpriced when compared to attackers and I’m pretty sure Bruce wouldn’t mind him at B6 either given the centre-half he’s developed into. But Grealish is certainly in the Henderson potential bracket for me, and then some. So stick football inflation onto £19million and we’re around £40million as a baseline.

Unless speculation hits that fee over the summer I’m going to pre-file it in Bin 13 as it’s not worth anyone’s time reading that click bait as it’ll be flat out nonsense.

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