Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola praised "incredible" Jack Grealish after the Aston Villa captain’s display on Saturday.
But Grealish’s Villa boss Dean Smith has been left to sweat on the fitness of his skipper, after he left the Etihad on crutches.
The Premier League holders moved three points off top of the table Liverpool with a 3-0 win over the Villans.
Villa impressed in the first half and kept City at arm’s length, only for City to take charge in the second half and claim victory through Raheem Sterling, David Silva - controversially given after a VAR delay - and Ilkay Gundogan.
But in front of watching England boss Gareth Southgate, 24 year-old Grealish produced a smart, mature display for the visitors.
And when asked about him afterwards, Guardiola made clear how much he rates Grealish - but says he won't be able to take him to Manchester any time soon.
"He’s incredible,"’ said Guardiola. "A top player. I’m happy he [initially] stayed in the Championship to defend his club.
"He’s a talented player who always creates something.
"An exceptional player but too expensive for Manchester.”
Villa meet Wolves in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
And Smith admits he was about to take Grealish off before he took a whack on his calf late on, which saw him enter the Villa team bus on crutches.
"Yes, I wanted to get him off before that," Smith revealed post-game. "He was on a caution and it was the last 10 minutes.
"He's just got a whack off the calf so it's too early to see. We'll see on Monday."
He added: "He carried the ball to them. He showed some really good bits of play, defensively as well as offensively.
"Probably got frustrated going 2-0 down like a few of them did but, the hardest part ot have in the game is emotional control when we've made a couple of mistakes and, for five minutes, wanted to get on the ball too much but, all in all, a decent performance from him.”
