Jack Grealish to Man City: Most overpriced Premier League transfers feature Man Utd buys | OneFootball

Jack Grealish is set to complete one of the biggest transfers in football history.

On the back of two glorious seasons in the Premier League with Aston Villa, it was only a matter of time before one of the division's biggest hitters came chasing after his signature.

Manchester City proved to be the club most willing to loosen their pursestrings and it now seems as though we're just a few hours away from Grealish being unveiled as their latest signing.

British record transfer fee

And according to BBC Sport, the Citizens are closing in on what would be a British record move for the 25-year-old with the price tag reportedly coming in at an eye-watering £100 million.

Such a mind-boggling fee would see him surpass Paul Pogba, who arrived at Manchester United for approximately £94 million, as the most expensive player in Premier League history.

However, the money that City are stumping up could break records for far less favourable reasons, too, with the Englishman set to become one of the most overpriced signings of all time.

Man City sign Jack Grealish for £100m (Football Terrace)

Overpriced players?

Just last month, we looked at the most overpriced XI of all time by comparing players' transfer fees to their calculated transfer value at the time of their move, according to data by Transfermarkt.

And using that very same system, we can establish that City are set to pay £41.5 million over the odds with Grealish currently valued at £58.5 million by the data gurus' fascinating algorithms.

That happens to mean that Grealish is on course to become one of the most overpriced signings that the Premier League has ever seen - and we've duly highlighted the top eight overall.

Most overpriced Premier League transfers

We've taken the exclusive club of players who have been purchased by Premier League clubs for more than £30 million over their transfer fee at the time and you can check them out down below:

8. Romelu Lukaku (Everton to Manchester United) - £31.23 million difference

Transfer fee: £76.23 million

Market value at the time: £45.00 million

7. Paul Pogba (Juventus to Manchester United) - £31.50 million

Transfer fee: £94.50 million

Market value at the time: £63.00 million

6. Harry Maguire (Leicester City to Manchester United) - £33.30 million

Transfer fee: £78.30 million

Market value at the time: £45.00 million

5. Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao to Manchester City) - £36.00 million

Market value at the time: £22.50 million

4. Benjamin Mendy (AS Monaco to Manchester City) - £40.05 million

3. Jack Grealish (Aston Villa to Manchester City) - £41.50 million

Transfer fee: £100.00 million

Market value at the time: £58.50 million

2. Virgil van Dijk (Southampton to Liverpool) - £49.19 million

Transfer fee: £76.19 million

Market value at the time: £27.00 million

1. Kepa Arrizabalaga (Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea) - £54.00 million

Transfer fee: £72.00 million

Market value at the time: £18.00 million

Will Grealish sink or swim?

Now, it's important to clarify here that being 'overpriced' isn't inherently a bad thing and the fact that Van Dijk ranks as high as second place here is the perfect demonstration of that point.

Besides, sometimes a deal is simply too good to miss that paying over the odds is worth the risk and Van Dijk, for example, has gone on to make his price tag look like an absolute bargain for Liverpool.

However, there are cautionary tales in the form of Mendy and Kepa who, for various reasons, have shown that getting carried away with your spending can lead to expensive mistakes.

Only time will tell which of those categories Grealish will slot into, but there's no denying that he has all the talent and ability in the world to make a success of himself at the Etihad Stadium.

They say that pressure makes diamonds and they'll be no shortage of expectations with Grealish arriving through the door for much more than he's worth. At least, that's what the stats say...

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