For Aston Villa the upcoming Euro’s are a blessing, it allows them extra time to plan for the eventual departure of club captain and star player Jack Grealish. The 25 year old English international has just concluded a career year where he totalled 16 goal contributions across 26 league games, this elite campaign helped reestablish his boyhood club as a mid-table Premier League team after a few rough unstable years. When you take into account his leadership traits, league experience and unique flair playstyle it’s not hard to see why Grealish is on the summer shortlist for many elite European clubs.
On a personal level, this is great for Grealish as he has far surpassed the levels of a mid-table club but his imminent move may destabilize his boyhood club all over again. If Aston Villa mirror the 2013 Spurs Summer window with what they receive for Grealish they will be relegated within two seasons.
The recent links to Emi Buendia are a good start, Buendia can come in and pick up Grealish’s creative burden as Buendia proved to be a strong creator and ball carrier when he last played in the Premier League.
Aston Villa is actually one of the more aggressive spenders in the Premier League, The club has spent slightly over 260 Million Euros over the last two seasons. If the usual 100 Million Euro’s plus the 60 to 80 Million pounds Grealish should command is used properly Aston Villa can make the leap and push for a Europa League place, If not used well the club will have plenty of long contracts they’ll deeply regret(think Arsenal post-2016 after signing Xhaka, Perez and Mustafi). Aston Villa as a club has worked so hard these past 5 seasons to return to their position as a standard mid-table Premier League club and this upcoming summer will determine whether they maintain their position or spiral down the football league pyramid once again.
Mab Sidam Analysis 