MANCHESTER CITY are ready to make England star Jack Grealish the most expensive signing in Premier League history.
The biggest fee paid by an English top-flight club was the £89million neighbours United lavished on Paul Pogba five years ago.
And that figure could be in danger as City step up their bid to sign the Aston Villa skipper, 25, in the next few days.
The record may not last long if Spurs get anywhere near the £160m they want for City-linked Harry Kane.
Villa do not want to sell talisman Grealish and will offer him a bumper new deal in a last-ditch bid to persuade him to stay.
However, if they are forced to sell they will ask for around £100m.
There is even some talk he has a release clause at around that figure in the contract he signed at Villa Park a year ago.
Reports have suggested they will make an opening bid of £75m to test the water in the coming days.
The record for a transfer involving a British club was the £145m deal that took Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool to Barcelona in January 2018.
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The champions still want to sign his England team-mate Harry Kane and hope his desire to move north will eventually see them get their man.
Tottenham’s asking price is around £160m and City have no intention of paying that.
Currently City’s most expensive signing was the £64.5m they paid for Ruben Dias last summer.
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