Tim Sherwood claims he told Spurs to sign England star when he was just 16

Former Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood has claimed that he told the North Londoners to sign Aston Villa star Jack Grealish back in 2011 when the midfielder was just 16 years of age.

Grealish has gone from strength to strength over the last couple of seasons and is now recognised as one of the best players in the Premier League.

He is likely to play a key role for England in the Euros next summer and is now said to be worth close to £100m.

Tottenham reportedly had the opportunity to sign the Villa star for around £6m back in 2018 (Sun) and the Lilywhites’ failure to get the deal over the line certainly looks like a massive blunder.

However, Sherwood has now revealed that Spurs could have signed Grealish before he even broke into the Villa first-team.

The 51-year-old, who was part of Harry Redknapp’s coaching staff at Tottenham, said that he implored the former manager to sign Grealish back in 2011 but that his plea fell on deaf ears.

Sherwood told The Athletic: “I said, ‘We need to do a swap for this kid at Villa’, who were struggling at the time.

“I thought they could do with a few of our players who weren’t playing (and I told Redknapp) that this kid is special; top drawer, unbelievable.”

Spurs Web Opinion

I am personally not inclined to believe most of the things that come out of Sherwood’s mouth. However, one thing that you cannot take away from him is the fact that he certainly knew how to spot young talent. So, there might be some truth to his assertion.

Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Related Topics

Have something to tell us about this article? Let us know