Manchester City are closing in on the £100m signing of Aston Villa skipper Jack Grealish.
A deal could be concluded in time for the England midfielder to play in the Community Shield against Leicester City on Saturday.
The move for the 25-year-old would make it a British record.
The fee for him would surpass the £89m Manchester United paid to re-sign France midfielder Paul Pogba from Juventus in 2016.
Grealish is set to make the move after returning to pre-season training with Aston Villa following Euro 2020.
It seems as though the transfer has been conducted in a much smoother way than that of City’s other main target, Harry Kane, who is presently in a stand-off with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy over the striker’s claim a gentleman’s agreement exists for him to leave the club this summer.
Grealish signed a new five-year deal with Villa last September.
City made their move for him at the end of last week, following up a summer of conversations with Villa by lodging a bid.
Manager Pep Guardiola believes Grealish’s creativity can offer an extra attacking dimension to what is already one of the most potent attacking units in the English game.
City scored 83 goals in the Premier League last season, 10 more than the second-highest scorers Manchester United, but Guardiola evidently feels they are capable of more.
Grealish is a lifelong Villa fan and has been with the club for all his professional career, other than one brief spell on loan with Notts County as a teenager.
Villa announced the signing of winger Leon Bailey for £25m on Wednesday to add to the arrivals midfielder Emiliano Buendia from Norwich City and Ashley Young from Inter Milan.
If City do land Grealish for £100m it will make him the ninth most expensive player in history.
Only eight players have ever commanded a transfer fee of £100m or more.
World’s top five transfer fees
Neymar [Barcelona – Paris St-Germain] £200m in 2017
Kylian Mbappe [Monaco – Paris St-Germain] £166m in 2017
Philippe Coutinho [Liverpool – Barcelona] £142m in 2018
Ousmane Dembele [Borussia Dortmund – Barcelona] total fee of £135m in 2017
Joao Felix [Benfica – Atletico Madrid] £113m in 2019
