West Ham United are reportedly interested in Aston Villa star Jack Grealish.
According to the likes of Sports Illustrated and The Express West Ham are ready to battle Tottenham Hotspur in the race to sign Grealish from Aston Villa following their failure to win promotion back to the Premier League.
West Ham are looking to spend big this summer according to co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan after bringing in Manuel Pellegrini as their new manager.
Meanwhile Villa are facing some tough decisions as they head into the last year of parachute payments for the club.
Financial Fair Play is looming large for Villa chairman Tony Xia who has admitted the club must now cut its cloth accordingly.
That has alerted the likes of West Ham over the availability of Villa’s most valuable asset, Jack Grealish.
But according to reports there is one snag for West Ham, Villa’s valuation of the player is miles apart from their own with the Midland club said to have slapped a £40 million price tag on their star talent.
But while that would be a club record for the Hammers it is hardly extortionate in the recent football transfer climate.
The likes of Danny Drinkwater cost Chelsea over £30 million for a player who is older and less talented than Grealish.
To get the top young talent – particularly English stars – you have to pay the money.
Grealish bears striking similarities to Hammers legend Sir Trevor Brooking and at 22 years of age has the best years of his career ahead of him.
The playmaker has really come of age in the last year and if West Ham really do rate a player who could be a future England star then they will simply have to stump up the cash.
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