Former Tottenham Hotspurs manager Harry Redknapp has said that Jack Grealish will have a tough time breaking into the Tottenham team should he secure a move to the North London club before the transfer deadline.
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce confirmed this week that Spurs have approached the club about Grealish but that the Premier League contenders ‘have got nowhere near the figure that they demand’.
“If anybody wants to come and buy our players, they’re going to have to find a premium and make sure the owners are comfortable with it,” said Bruce.
“That’s their prerogative, that’s what they’ve wanted, that’s what they’ve put in place so that’s what they’ve said, nobody is for sale. Now, we all know what football is but at the moment Spurs haven’t got anywhere near what the owners even want to consider.
“There’s not a discussion to be had at the moment, because they’ve got nowhere near the figure that they demand.”
Redknapp, who managed Tottenham for just under four seasons between 2008 and 2012, said that Grealish needs to go somewhere where he will play consistent first-team football and that Tottenham are currently overloaded with attacking midfield options.
“He needs to go somewhere where he can play,” Redknapp said at the launch of AIB’s The Toughest Series last month.
“If he goes somewhere to be a squad player, his career is going to go down. He looks to me to be a kid who needs to be told he is great, that ‘we will build a team around you. You will be our main man. You will make things happen, everything has to go through you Jack, this is how we are going to play’.
“I think if he goes to a club like that he will keep progressing. If he goes to a club where is only a bit-part player, I don’t know where he is going.
“He’s not going to replace Dele Alli, that’s for sure. Or Eriksen. You can’t have a team of artists. We all want good players, but you also need Wanyama’s or whoever else you want to play in there.
“He is a real good player but Tottenham are a bit overloaded in those areas.”
