The Aston Villa midfielder was heavily linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur this summer.
Steve Bruce has praised the attitude of Jack Grealish after the midfielder was the subject of sustained interest from Tottenham Hotspur this summer.
Tottenham are said to have bid twice for the 22-year-old, originally offering a mere £3m and Josh Onomah, and then a much higher £25m bid was made right at the end of the window – which Aston Villa rejected.
A Champions League side offering that kind of money for a Championship player is surely likely to turn a young player’s head, but Bruce believes Grealish’s attitude since has been exemplary.
“Jack has been fantastic,” said Bruce on Friday. “We hope to reward him [with a new contract], we’re in talks with him now. I hope that it can progress, it will progress.
“I think it’s important people hear that [he has been fantastic]. We keep hearing that footballers don’t want to play – Jack’s knocking on my office at ten past nine demanding that he plays’.
This will be music to the ears of Aston Villa fans, as Grealish will be central to any serious promotion challenge this season – much as he was when the club reached the play-off final last season.
It had looked as though things were falling apart for Aston Villa with their off-field issues at the start of the summer but the club instead moved forward – the only first-team loss has been John Terry, while John McGinn, Orjan Nyland, Axel Tuanzebe, and Andre Moreira have all joined.
The really important factor, however, was holding onto Grealish. Villa will need time for their new signings to gel if they’re to go one step closer than last season, but keeping hold of Grealish is the best start they could have hoped for.
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