Jack Grealish was offered to Tottenham aged 16 in swap transfer but Harry Redknapp said no
TOTTENHAM rejected the chance to sign Jack Grealish when he was a teenager, according to Tim Sherwood.
The pundit was Spurs manager between 2013-2014 and prior to that he worked as Under-21 boss under Harry Redknapp.
And in that role he first got a glimpse of Grealish and was left dazzled by the then Aston Villa wonderkid.
He advised Redknapp to try and make a move for the England star, suggesting a swap deal that would have seen Jermaine Jenas join Villa.
Recalling the story on talkSPORT, Sherwood said: “I watched him when he was 16 against Tottenham’s Under-18s.
“I remember going back to the first-team game at White Hart Lane and Redknapp said, ‘Well, what was the score?’
“I said, ‘I don’t know H, all I was doing was watch this boy Grealish’.
“It was incredible. I said, ‘[Villa] want to take Jermaine Jenas, we should do a swap for this boy.’
“Harry, quite rightly, said, ‘He’s only 16, by the time he’s in the first-team I’ll be gone’. As a football manager he’s absolutely right, looking after yourself as you would do.
“But for the club it would’ve been a great move. It would’ve been a great move for Jermaine as he ended up going to Villa [on loan] anyway.”
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Spurs did remain interested in Grealish and tried to sign him a few years later in 2018 but failed in their £20million bid for the winger.
They pursued him again in 2019 but were unwilling to match Villa’s £35m asking price.