Manchester United players had some cheeky words for Jack Grealish during their friendly against Aston Villa prior to the Premier League season kicking off.
It followed a summer-long pursuit of the Villa captain from the Red Devils.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been keen to reinstate a British spine at Old Trafford after signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Daniel James and Harry Maguire in his first window.
But he is still looking for that player to deliver some unpredictability in the final third.
Grealish was eyed as the ideal player after a stunning season with Villa.
He almost single-handedly kept his boyhood club up in the Premier League through his ability on the ball.
And the 25-year-old was the star of the show when Villa took on United in a pre-season friendly before the season got underway.
The Birmingham side emerged 1-0 winners on September 12 thanks to an early Ollie Watkins goal.
But according to The Athletic's David Ornstein, the Red Devils were all asking Grealish the same thing.
He told the Tifo Podcast’s Ask Ornstein show: “Interestingly there was a friendly between Villa and United ahead of the new season starting.
"I think in a humorous way a number of the United players were saying to Grealish, ‘When are you joining us?’
“But there was nothing from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer towards him.
"I think by that point it was pretty clear to Grealish that it wasn’t going to happen.”
Grealish would go on to pen a five-year contract at Villa, which would see him turn 30 before the deal expired - which all but ended United's pursuit.
Ornstein added: “We don’t know if there’s a release clause, we’ll have to wait and see.
"We also don’t know if there’s any kind of agreement around whether a certain level of club comes in for him with a certain level of payment and that could take him away.
“What we do know is he is appears completely committed and happy at Aston Villa.”
Leontheguru
202
Cavani in his short time on the field has proved to be a threat Martial I believe can still do a job on the left wing and he needs more space than he is getting as a 9 Rashford and Martial will have to constantly change wings in order not to be marked out of the game and increase creative freedom as for the midfield 3 Ole needs to stick to a formation and get the best players who fit into it Fred and MACTOMINATOR DO, Matic their substitute 3 attacking mids with Bruno getting the pic my advise would be sell Pogba and sign Zacharia from Borrusia Monchengladbach as he can play DM and CB Tuanzebe has to be played ahead of Lindelof simply because his physical game is better e.g he can head a ball. Strong and good balance in one on one defending as Mbappe and Neymar remember... Shaw for now as Telles earns his place in the squad
sidacdkrty
14