You know what Chelsea need right now? Yet another midfielder to add to their shortlist. That’s right, another day another Chelsea FC transfer rumour and this one comes straight from Villa Park and has the endorsement of none other than John Terry himself.
Jack Grealish is the latest midfielder to be linked to Stamford Bridge as Chelsea attempt (if you believe the stories) to hijack Tottenham’s move to take Grealish away from Aston Villa.
Villa were in financial difficulty and Grealish was the obvious player to be put up for sale but with new investment at Villa Park it may not be as important for them to sell – especially not for the original £20m asking price.
But what would Jack Grealish actually bring to Chelsea and Maurizio Sarri?
Jack Grealish
Using Wyscout we’ve pulled up some data on him.
As you can see, Grealish played most of his football in a classic ’10’ position last season – a role that may not actually exist in Maurizio Sarri’s preferred set-up. Grealish can play from deeper and could at a push be considered a Marek Hamsik type player if only for the areas on the pitch he occupies.
Grealish in the Championship
As you can see here, Wyscout did rank Jack Grealish in the top ten central midfielders to play Championship football last season.
An interesting comparison, even though they play in different positions, is that of Ruben Neves who was – to many – easily the best midfielder in the league last season and will be playing in the Premier League with Wolves in 2018/19.
Let’s dive deeper into Jack Grealish’s statistics.
Jack Grealish Statistics
As this image is not the easiest to see unless you zoom in, I will point out some of the key parts on a per 90 basis.
Assists: 0.15
Shots on target: 2.33 (54% accuracy)
Passes: 50 (85% accuracy)
Dribbles: 9.38 (78.5% accuracy)
There is no doubt that Jack Grealish has the ability but surely Chelsea have a player (or three) in their books who has equal ability and potential?
Using Squawka let us look at Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Just looking at the classic midfielder statistics, Jack Grealish beats Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
The caveat? Jack Grealish was playing in a Championship side and Ruben Loftus-Cheek was playing in a struggling Crystal Palace XI.
Conclusion
Personally, I am not for this deal. This is not to say that Jack Grealish for £20m is not a good deal for someone, it is. If he is still available for that price and I was a West Ham, an Everton or even a Crystal Palace needing to replace RLC this season I would definitely go for him – if Jack Grealish wanted to leave Aston Villa for a mid-table Premier League side.
Is he ready to start every week in the Premier League for a top-six side? No, I don’t think so.
