Time for Villa to Cash In on Jack?
Is £100 million fair compensation for Jack’s services? If it is, then it’s time for Edens and Sawiris to cash in. Grealish isn’t ever going to be worth much more than he is right now.

Is £100 million fair compensation for Jack’s services? If it is, then it’s time for Edens and Sawiris to cash in. Grealish isn’t ever going to be worth much more than he is right now.
Brighton & Hove Albion today, the first Saturday 3pm kickoff in 270-some days, I’ve read. Coming in, you’d have to favor Villa. But that’s exactly the sticking point. There are no easy games in the PL, apart from Liverpool and Arsenal, and after the international travel and exertions, the players have to hit the ground running against a side it might be tempting to overlook.
As much as I take football news from England with a grain of salt, and a wonderment at the amount of non-news they can turn into a column, concern has crept into my thinking. It all started with a few comments on Douglas Luiz and Manchester City’s possible buy back.
In case you were wondering what had gone wrong at Villa Park, Aston Villa delivered a message in their well-deserved 0-3 smashing of Arsenal at The Emirates: We’re alright, thank you very much. With Ross Barkley and John McGinn back on song, Villa sent opposition fans into meltdown, and moved back up to sixth. Not bad for a Sunday night.
There’s been a lot of angst about the goals shipped in Villa’s last two, and with Southampton, I maintain it’s rather hard on the team to draw too many conclusions from a dead-ball masterclass from Ward-Prowse. Yes, reckless fouls on our part, and down to being second best in the early going. But ordinarily you just wouldn’t be punished so ruthlessly. Down three at the half, Villa would be forgiven for not quite believing they were three goals worse.
Today, though, it’s Arsenal, and they’ve had a couple decent results. But until Arteta & Co can show us this is a new era, we can be forgiven for expecting their up-and-down ways to continue. Doesn’t mean we come away with a victory today, of course. But this isn’t necessarily a team to fear any more than Southampton or Leeds, in the end. And we like being underdogs.