Manchester City are set to break the British transfer record to land Aston Villa star Jack Grealish but are now likely to sell first-team squad members to continue recruiting
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Grealish ‘to have spells on bench’ at Man City
Manchester City are closing in on the signing of Aston Villa playmaker Jack Grealish in a British record transfer which is set to be processed at £100million.
Such a momentous deal will inevitably cause notable ripples throughout the transfer market with clubs now having a greater urgency to invest in their squad and move players on.
Villa have already responded to Grealish’s seemingly inevitable departure by recruiting Emi Buendia from Norwich City, winger Leon Bailey from Bayer Leverkusen and striker Danny Ings, who will join from Southampton.
The knock-on effects are not only going to impact Villa – who are flush with money from the transfer windfall – but is also going to make an impact at the Etihad.
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Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
Pep Guardiola has an embarrassment of attacking riches at his disposal with Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Ferran Torres and Bernardo Silva among the wide forwards already at the club.
A report from Catalan media outlet Mundo Deportivo, as cited by Sport Witness, claims that Silva may be the fall guy at City with a move to La Liga on the cards.
It is claimed by the report that the arrival of Grealish will create a ‘domino effect’ whereby City will offload players to help accommodate their new star arrival.
The report claims that Barcelona had been involved in negotiations with City for his transfer previously, but the Blaugrana’s financial situation means that they are not currently seeking to recruit new players.
It is added that a move to Spain is still likely for the Portuguese international with champions Atletico Madrid keen on a move for the player.
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It is noted how the report claims that Silva has ‘set his sights’ on a move to Spain and is ‘very attracted’ to the idea of playing in the league.
There would be willingness on the part of both clubs and the player to conduct a transfer but the major sticking point is likely to be the transfer fee.
City paid £45million to recruit the playmaker from Monaco in 2017 and are unlikely to be open to taking a major hit on that fee when moving him on.
Atleti – who have already signed midfielder Rodrigo de Paul from Udinese this summer – would be neither willing nor able to match this fee.
There are several possibilities to manoeuvre around such a potential impasse, including City lowering their valuation of the player or accepting a loan arrangement – possibly with an obligation to buy.
There could also be a more structured transfer fee involved, with Atleti staggering any payment over several instalments.
It does appear increasingly likely that City will need to sell members of their first-team squad if they are to carry on investing this summer, making Silva’s future uncertain.
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