Once available for £40m, now worth £72m: THFC had a nightmare on £250k-p/w "superstar" - opinion

Being heavily linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur back in the summer of 2018, Daniel Levy ultimately failed to pull his finger out for then-Aston Villa playmaker Jack Grealish.

Indeed, despite it being reported that the 26-year-old had identified Spurs as his preferred destination, as well as Villa demanding a fee in the region of just £40m in order to part with the England international, the Tottenham chairman did not manage to get a deal over the line for the versatile forward – with Grealish remaining a Villa player.

However, just three years later, Levy’s indecision concerning the Birmingham-born sensation was made to look extremely foolish, with Manchester City coughing up £100m in order to prise the attacking midfielder away from Aston Villa – breaking the British transfer record in doing so.

And, considering the form the £72m-rated forward had been in for the Midlands club in the season prior to his move, it is not difficult to understand why Pep Guardiola believed the 26-year-old would be worth his hefty price tag.

Indeed, over his 26 Premier League appearances in 2020/21, the £250k-per-week star scored six goals, provided ten assists and created 14 big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.9 shots and making a quite remarkable 3.2 key passes – the joint-most in the division, alongside Kevin De Bruyne – per game.

These returns saw the player who Aston Villa podcaster Steve Froggat dubbed a “world-class superstar” earn a breathtaking seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.54, not only ranking him as Villa’s best performer in the league but also as the fourth-best player in the top flight as a whole.

As such, while hindsight is a wonderful thing, considering the world-beater Grealish has