Aston Vi*la ready to snub bids for Grealish as they host Liverpool in FA Cup
London, Thursday
Aston Villa plan to dismiss any approaches for Jack Grealish during the January transfer window despite renewed interest from leading clubs.
The playmaker signed a new five-year deal worth more than £100,000 per week in the summer – with a significantly higher buy-out clause – after Manchester United opted not to meet Villa’s £80million asking price and has since enjoyed a superb start to the campaign, with five goals and seven assists in 15 matches to help his club to eighth in the table.
Both United and Manchester City continue to follow Grealish’s progress with interest, and he has also attracted attention abroad.
But Sportsmail understands there is little prospect of Villa entertaining bids for their talisman this month.
The club’s wealthy owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, have spent heavily in each of the past two summers as they try to turn Villa into a Champions League outfit and they are in no mood to countenance offers for the best player.
Villa, meanwhile, will assess the progress of Wesley this month before deciding whether to move for a forward before the deadline.
The Brazilian has not played since damaging knee ligaments in the win at Burnley on January 1 last year but Villa hope he will start to train again regularly with the first-team squad this month.
Villa boss Dean Smith is happy with his squad but he is slightly short of options in attack, where Keinan Davis is the only like-for-like alternative to first-choice centre-forward Ollie Watkins. -Dailymail
If Wesley is deemed ready for first-team action before the end of this month, Davis may be allowed to join a Championship club on loan.
