Jack Grealish would be a brilliant signing for Manchester City based on Kevin De Bruyne's verdict of the Aston Villa player last month.
Reports have emerged that Pep Guardiola has identified the 25-year-old as a top target in the plans for his City rebuild.
Grealish was linked with a transfer to Manchester United for much of the summer but Aston Villa's £70million valuation put Ed Woodward off.
According to the Independent, that valuation has only gone up. City would now have to pay £100m if they want to secure the midfielder's services.
Guardiola, though, has informed the club that Grealish is his top target and has even held conversations with Kevin De Bruyne about his quality.
It was only last month that De Bruyne revealed he too had discussed Grealish's qualities with his team-mates.
"I rate him very highly," said the Belgian. "He’s somebody I mentioned before, talking to the teammates at City, in a random conversation.
"In England they talked about creative problems in midfield, but he brings that to a team. He deserves a shot."
Grealish did get his shot and impressed in England's recent fixtures against Belgium and Iceland.
Asked what his source of inspiration was Grealish named none other than De Bruyne.
“I knew this was my chance to impress but these are the things I love, the pressure of wanting to do well is what I love,” he told Sky Sports.
“The last 24 hours I’ve been watching clips of my favourite players, which I always do, and I’ve been buzzing wanting it to start.
“I watched loads of clips of De Bruyne, Coutinho, loads of people who are in my position, I did it as a little kid and I still do it today and that’s what gets me going for football matches."
It seems, for all intensive purposes, Grealish and City could be a match made in heaven.
