Had Jack Grealish not scored against West Ham United at the London Stadium on the final day of the Premier League season just over two months ago, Dean Smith’s Aston Villa would now be playing in the Championship.
There is no doubting the influence that he has on his boyhood club, who Manchester United (heavily) and Liverpool (tentatively) were linked with earlier in 2020.
Signing Grealish up to a new deal reportedly worth as much as £135,000-per-week was almost certainly the biggest move Aston Villa made this summer, ending transfer speculation surrounding his future.
And that was in addition to signing Ollie Watkins, Bertrand Traore, Emiliano Martinez, Matty Cash and Ross Barkley.
Only Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus paid out more than the Villa in transfer fees last summer, while this summer, the club have gone again, putting out a similar outlay to Liverpool so far with a couple of days of the window remaining.
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On the Behind Enemy Lines podcast, Birmingham Live's Aston Villa writer Ashley Preece explained: "Grealish is the star player and he is going to come into his own this year.
"The best is yet to come from him and it bodes well for a more consistent season from him. I can’t speak highly enough of him. His new contract is the signing of the summer, for me.
"He was heavily linked with Manchester United but he signed a new deal making him the highest-paid player at the club now and rightly so.
"He has got it good at Villa and it’s his home club - a bit like Steven Gerrard at Liverpool. Why is there a need to move?
"Villa have good owners and they really want to push on for the European places, so it was a massive coup for Villa to keep Grealish this summer.
"He is a Champions League player and it’s a shame he isn’t playing in that competition because I think he would really excel.
"If you put him in the Liverpool team, it would be scary. There are not many players like him in the way he goes past people and he has added goals to his game now - he is ice-cool in the box."
With Joe Gomez back fit again and Thiago Alcantara missing after testing positive for COVID-19, it will likely be the task of Fabinho in front of Liverpool's back four to control Grealish.
Doing that will likely be a big step towards making it four wins from four for Jurgen Klopp's men in the Premier League this season, though a future transfer move for the talented 25-year-old appears unlikely given the options the Reds already have, and the price-tag his current side would place on him.
