Steve Bruce believes Aston Villa will struggle to keep hold of Jack Grealish amid interest from Tottenham.
Grealish played 83 minutes in Villa's 3-1 win over Hull on Monday night as the clock ticks down to Thursday's transfer deadline.
But asked about the midfielder's future after the game, Bruce admitted that his star man could still be swayed by the prospect of top-flight football.
'He is a wonderful talent,' Bruce told Sky Sports. 'We will do our best to keep hold of him, but it is going to be difficult.
'We understand the human side. He will want to play in the Premier League, Europe, Champions League.
'Nobody wants him to leave, but there is a human element to it too. The owners have made it pretty clear that they don't want to sell him and that still stands.
'We are all trying our best to hang on to him but at the moment there is no decision to be made as they are not at the figure where the owners are even blinking.'
Despite the uncertainty over his future, Grealish played a starring role for Villa in the 3-1 win at the KCOM Stadium on Monday.
He supplied the corner for Tommy Elphick's equaliser after Evandro had put Hull ahead early on, before second-half goals from Ahmed Elmohamady and Alan Hutton sealed the points.
And after being substituted on 83 minutes, Grealish applauded the travelling fans as he left the pitch in what some may see as a potential goodbye.
A key performer last season, the England Under-21 man quickly attracted the attention of Premier League clubs with his guile and vision from midfield.
Over the weekend, Bruce, though, maintained that Villa are yet to receive any bids for Grealish or fellow team-mates Jonathan Kodjia and James Chester.
'Ten days ago, we couldn't sign a player,' he said. 'Now look at where we are. We've gone from "everybody is for sale" within ten days to "nobody is for sale".
'If we lost (Jonathan) Kodjia, if we lost (James) Chester, if we lost Grealish, then the team really which got us to the play-off final has been ripped apart in eight weeks.
'It would be mightily difficult so our aim is to keep hold of them. We haven't had any offers, would you believe, for anyone apart from Chester.'