Former Aston Villa midfielder Tony Cascarino has issued the warning to Jack Grealish that Manchester City could ‘send him back to Aston Villa’ unless his form improves.
Grealish ended up being on record the most expensive British footballer of all time following his £100-million pound move to Premier League champions Manchester City from Villa Park after the European Championships with England last summer. However, despite the Sky Blues going on to win the Premier League as expected by many, Grealish’s debut season at the Etihad was at best a mixed one, as he found himself in and out of the starting line-up for the major part of the season.
26-year-old Grealish had a visibly quiet game as City were beaten 3-1 by Liverpool in the Community Shield season curtain raiser on Saturday.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Cascarino said: “At the end of the season, if he doesn’t pick up his standards, what we know he’s capable of and why they paid £100m for him, he’ll probably be loaned out or he might end up back at Villa.
The exuberant, devil-may-care ex-Aston Villa captain joined Man City for £100m last summer, scoring only three goals and providing three assists in 26 Premier League games.
“He’s not playing well enough consistently for Man City. I’m not talking about being OK, six out of tens. He should be eight or nine. He’s got so much quality.”
“Jack has got an issue. You can’t be a £100m player and be OK, your standard is higher than that. City’s standard is higher than that and he has been six out of ten too often,” Cascarino added.