[골닷컴] Reporter Man-seong Han = Jack Grealish (26), who transferred to Manchester City this season, had a very close connection with Manchester United last year.
It is already widely known that United were interested in signing Grealish in the transfer window last summer. However, United’s priority target was second-line striker Jadon Sancho, who was playing for Borussia Dortmund. In the end, United failed to sign Sancho last summer, but managed to sign him from Dortmund ahead of the season. Meanwhile, Grealish, who stayed with Aston Villa at the end of last season, moved to Manchester City this season.
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However, it turned out that United’s negotiations for Grealish were far more advanced than was known at the time. Grealish said that at the time his club Aston Villa had informed him of an agreement to transfer him to Manchester United.
Grealish explained the situation last summer through the English daily The Telegraph on the 1st (Korean time), saying, “I was very close to going to Manchester United, but in the end the transfer window closed without anything happening.” He said, “At the time, Aston Villa met United in a pre-season friendly match. After that, there was a cup match against Burton, and the club asked me to miss,” he said last summer.
However, Grealish soon said, “After the pre-season match against Manchester United, I went to Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow and my agent directly. “I will accept it,” he said.
In fact, after withdrawing from Manchester United last summer, Grealish signed a new contract with Aston Villa until the summer of 2025. He said: “I renewed my contract with Aston Villa and included a £100 million buyout. “Besides, Aston Villa could get £100 million.”
After last season, Grealish finally moved to Manchester United’s rivals Manchester City, who were targeting him just a year ago, for a transfer fee of £100 million (about 150 billion won).
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