Tottenham are weighing up a shock January move for Manchester City winger, Jack Grealish, and a report has revealed how Spurs could replicate a dubious Arsenal deal to make the move work.
Grealish, 29, became the most expensive English player of all time when moving from Aston Villa to Man City for £100m in 2021. Declan Rice (£105m) has since assumed that mantle, though while Rice has been an instant hit at Arsenal, the jury is still out on Grealish.
The winger has notched vital goals at times during his City career. However, a return of just 14 goals and 20 assists in 143 matches for Man City is well below expectations for a £100m player.
Indeed, Mohamed Salah, for example, has more goal contributions in half a season this year (37) than Grealish does in three-and-a-half seasons at the Etihad (34).
Grealish has gone more than a full year without scoring for City, with his last goal coming against Crystal Palace in a 2-2 draw in December of 2023.
Yet according to a fresh update from Mail Online, Tottenham are showing interest in bringing Grealish on board.
It’s claimed both they and Newcastle are ‘monitoring’ the winger’s situation, while a second report from Football London has zeroed in on a potential move to north London…
Tottenham could replicate Arsenal transfer with Grealish loan
Following on from Mail Online’s update, Football London stated that if Grealish were to join Spurs in January, it would be via the loan route.
Man City are expected to spend heavily in January in the hopes of rescuing their ailing season. A loan move wouldn’t do a great deal to boost their spending power, though it would chop a sizeable sum off the wage bill and remove an under-performing player from the equation.
But with Grealish pocketing a mammoth £300,000-a-week on his current deal, Tottenham would reportedly insist Man City subsidise a healthy portion of the salary.
As such, a loan where the parent club are still paying a significant slice of the player’s wages would mirror the deal that brought Raheem Sterling from Chelsea to Arsenal last summer.
The Gunners believed they’d snagged a bargain when loaning the four-time Premier League winner, not least because Chelsea are on the hook for around half of Sterling’s high salary.
However, Sterling has failed to make any meaningful level of impact thus far and given Grealish’s struggles in 2024, there’s no guarantee he’d fare any better at Tottenham either.
Nonetheless, TEAMtalk has been informed the flanks are a position where Spurs hope to strengthen in January and taking a punt on Grealish via the loan route would ensure there’s plenty of cash to splash in other, arguably more pressing positions…
Latest Tottenham news – January transfer exclusive
TEAMtalk’s transfer insider, Fraser Gillan, has been told Spurs hope to strengthen four positions in the winter window.
Tottenham aim to be among the busiest Premier League sides next month and additions at goalkeeper, centre-back, on the wings and at striker are being sought.
Regarding the centre-back chase, Bournemouth’s Illya Zabarnyi and Abdukodir Khusanov of Lens – valued at £25m – are being tracked.
The full details in Gillan’s exclusive – including an SPL ace and a Premier League striker who are also being targeted – can be found here.