Andy Townsend believes Tottenham Hotspur missed out on the chance to sign a £100 million player when failing to lure Jack Grealish away from Aston Villa in 2018, while speaking to Astro Supersport (21 March, 8:00pm).
A Lucas Moura-inspired Spurs bounced back from their Zagreb nightmare on Sunday night as goals from Carlos Vinicius and Harry Kane saw off Dean Smith’s out-of-sorts side.
But, while Aston Villa managed just one shot on target in 90 minutes, the game was far less lopsided than the 2-0 score-line suggests.
While Tottenham picked off their opposition like dead-eyed snipers at one end, Villa were about as clinical and efficient as a drunken Stormtrooper at the other, missing the target whenever the opportunity presented itself.
How the Midland giant miss their Brummie-born number ten.
Grealish was ‘disappointed’ to be denied a move to Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham in 2018, when Villa were still a Championship club.
And an ongoing leg injury meant he missed the opportunity to show his long-time suitors what they were missing last night, as Villa produced yet another insipid display in their captain’s absence.
“Villa look like they miss his invention, that spark, that bit of creativity, the goals of course. At the top of the field, they haven’t been good enough,” said Townsend, who wore claret and blue from 1993 to 1997.
“They were talking at about £20 – £25 million at the time (2018). That was the number that might have got him (to Tottenham). Pochettino perhaps wasn’t convinced at that time.”
When asked how much Grealish would cost these days, three years after Tottenham’s £25 million bid fell short of Villa’s valuation, Townsend suggested that it may take a record-breaking sum to lure the England international away from his boyhood club.
“I think that will be excess of £75 – £80 million. Maybe even £100 million.”
It is no coincidence that, in six games without Grealish, Villa have won just once, scoring three goals.
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