Manchester City have signed England midfielder Jack Grealish from Aston Villa for a British record £100m.
The 25-year-old joins the Premier League champions on six-year contract and will wear the number 10 shirt recently vacated by Sergio Aguero.
The fee surpasses the £89m Manchester United paid to re-sign midfielder Paul Pogba from Juventus in 2016.
“City are the best team in the country with a manager considered to be the best in the world,” said Grealish.
“It’s a dream come true to be part of this club.”
The England international could make his debut for Pep Guardiola’s side in Saturday’s Community Shield against Leicester at Wembley.
Grealish was a boyhood Villa fan and joined the club aged six.
Grealish said: “It was obviously a difficult few months because I have been an Aston Villa fan for my whole life, but when I spoke to the manager here and you see what type of players they have got here, in the end it was something I couldn’t say no to.
“There are obviously a lot of reasons why I decided to come here. The manager has been a massive factor; playing under the best manager in the world was something I couldn’t really turn down. Obviously the players that we have got here, I think everyone knows how much I admire Kevin [De Bruyne].
“But competing for major trophies is something that I wanted to do. It was something I couldn’t turn down.”
City director of football Txiki Begiristain added: “Jack’s development over the past few seasons both for club and country has been plain for everybody to see.
“His natural talent together with his commitment to improve as a player, has seen him become one of the most exciting attacking players in world football today.”
In an address to supporters explaining the reasons behind Grealish’s sale, Villa chief executive Christian Purslow revealed there was a £100m release clause in the five-year deal he signed last summer.
“Jack wanted to be certain 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,” said Purslow.
“For that reason, we agreed to incorporate a so-called release clause. We set the value at a level we hope would not be met, but reflected his true value to Villa.”Manchester City said they would be willing to pay £100m to trigger the clause.”
The rise of Grealish
After progressing through the Villa youth set-up, Grealish went on loan to Notts County, then in League One, in 2013 to gain senior experience.
He making his Villa debut in a 4-0 defeat by City in May 2014 and went on to make 17 Premier League appearances during the 2014-15 season as Villa finished one place above the relegation zone.
During the following season, he scored his first top-flight goal against Leicester City in September 2015 and made 16 league appearances as Villa finished bottom and were relegated to the Championship.
Villa spent three seasons in the Championship before Grealish helped them regain their Premier League status with a play-off final win against Derby County.
He made 36 Premier League appearances during 2019-20 and scored eight goals, including one in the 1-1 draw against West Ham United which secured Villa’s top-flight survival on the final day of a season interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
A Republic of Ireland Under-21 international, Grealish announced in 2015 that he wanted to represent England. Having switched to their Under-21 side, he made his senior England debut in a goalless draw against Denmark in September 2020.
Last season, Grealish scored six goals in 26 Premier League appearances, including two in a 7-2 win over Liverpool, as Villa finished 11th.
He spent three months out injured from mid-February to mid-May as he returned just before the end of the campaign and was selected in England manager Gareth Southgate’s squad for Euro 2020.
Grealish impressed in warm-up wins against Austria and Romania and made one start and four substitute appearances, registering two assists, for England during the tournament.
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