Aston Villa offer fans the chance to EXCHANGE purchased Jack Grealish shirts after the England star’s emotional eye-watering £100m move to Manchester City
- Aston Villa will allow fans to swap their Jack Grealish shirts bought this summer
- Supporters can exchange home and away shirts with his name and number on
- The 24-year-old is most expensive British footballer ever after £100m move
- Grealish replaces Sergio Aguero to wear the number 10 shirt at Manchester City
Aston Villa will give their fans the chance to exchange their shirts from this season with Jack Grealish’s name and number on after his £100m move to Manchester City.
The boyhood Villa fan left the club after almost 20 years to join Pep Guardiola’s side, signing a six-year deal worth more than £200,000-a-week with the Premier League champions.
Unsurprisingly, Villa’s captain and fan favourite Grealish was a popular choice for fans buying the latest shirts ahead of the new season, but the club announced they will allow exchanges to take place.
Aston Villa have announced fans will be able to exchange new shirts with Grealish’s name on
The 24-year-old sealed a huge £100m move to Manchester City to leave his boyhood club
The massive transfer fee makes Grealish the most expensive British footballer of all time
Home and away shirts purchased between July 14 and August 5 are eligible for the exchange.
The move, rumoured to be close for some time but officially confirmed on Thursday night, makes Grealish the most expensive British footballer ever.
He will wear the number 10 shirt at City, as he did at Villa, after Sergio Aguero left the club to join Barcelona at the end of last season.
The 24-year-old took to social media to bid an emotional farewell to the club, speaking of his love for Villa in a message to the fans.
The England star posted a message to Villa fans on social media about his love for the club
‘I’ll always be a Villa fan – I love this club with all my heart & I hope you understand my reasons for seeking a new challenge,’ Grealish wrote.
‘The club are in great hands, the manager, the lads, the new signings coming in – it’s an exciting times to be a Villa fan.
Dean Smith’s side have wasted no time in using the massive fee to bolster their ranks, signing Emi Buendia, Leon Bailey and Danny Ings this summer as they assemble what looks to be an incredible exciting side.
In a message explaining the situation to fans, Villa chief executive Christian Purslow revealed it was a ‘highly emotional moment’ when Grealish informed him of the decision.
Villa’s chief executive Christian Purslow revealed City met Grealish’s £100m release clause
‘Jack wanted to be certain that if at any point a Champions League club came in for him and Aston Villa were not in the competition we would not stand in his way – for that reason we agreed to incorporate a so-called release clause into his contract,’ Purslow said.
‘Our board set this clause at a value of £100m knowing that would be, by some way, a record price for a British footballer and also a record fee for any player bought by a Premier League club.
‘We set the value at a level we hoped would not be met, but which would reflect his truly unique value to Aston Villa.’