Jack Grealish is on the verge of joining Man City in a transfer that will smash the British transfer record.

The boyhood Aston Villa fans heads to the next stage of his career after City met the £100million release clause in his contract.

Grealish was a fan favourite at Euro 2020

He's been popular with supporters at club and country with calls for him to start for England at Euro 2020 constant throughout the tournament.

The attacking midfielder can play on the left or in the no.10 role behind a central striker.

Since the start of the 2019/20 season, Grealish ranks in the top 10 in the Premier League for a host of statistics including; assists, chances created, fouls won and take ons completed.

But stats don't always tell the full story. His flair and talent has won a host of admirers all over the globe.

Former Chelsea, Manchester United, and Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho was a talkSPORT pundit throughout Euro 2020 and had high praise for the 25-year-old.

Grealish is poised to sign for Man City in a record-breaking £100m deal

He told talkSPORT: "Grealish, for me, is tremendous and what he creates and his personality – 'give me the ball' – he reminds me a little bit of Luis Figo.

"I don't like making comparisons, especially with a Golden Ball winner, but Grealish reminds me of my Figo.

"Figo, I had him in different periods in my career but I had him in his last season as a player at Inter Milan and even in his last season he was like, 'give me the ball and I will resolve the problems for you'.

"The way Grealish gets the ball and attacks people, gets fouls, gets penalties, he's very powerful, I like him very much."

His Aston Villa teammate Emi Martinez plays his international football with Argentina, meaning he gets to see Lionel Messi up close regularly.

Is Jack Grealish comparable to Lionel Messi?

"He is the most talented player I've ever seen," Martinez has told talkSPORT of Grealish.

"He never gives the ball away. When I see Grealish running, it's always a shot on target or a corner for us. He will drive past two or three players.

"I just see Messi with a right foot when he has the ball. You can't get the ball off him. He's the most talented English player and I'm surprised he hasn't played more games for England.

"Messi is Messi, he's the best ever. But in terms of training, when Jack has the ball, people don't want to tackle him, they respect him, he can finish, he can chop, he can do everything.

"When I train with Messi for the national team, it's the same. Nobody wants to touch him, he chops people, he treats players like cones. I see that with Jack here."

Grealish is a boyhood Villa fan, but he is heading for the exit

England fans regularly compare Grealish to England legend Paul Gascoigne and Robert Snodgrass, who played with him at Aston Villa, thinks the comparisons are apt.

"I've not seen anyone like him. He's the closest to Gascoigne that I've seen. He takes it anywhere, he dribbles past people," Snodgrass told talkSPORT.

"There are lots of off-field things that people have spoken about and that's my pet hate. We speak a lot about the negatives but no one sees the work going on behind the scenes, that kid works as hard as I've ever seen.

Mourinho was an analyst for talkSPORT during Euro 2020 and was full of praise for Grealish aka Figo

"He's in the gym 6/7o'clock every single day, he took the fitness coach Oli Stephenson, who would put him through hard, intense sessions to live in his house."

Watford striker Troy Deeney agreed with the comparisons made to Gazza and told talkSPORT in November: "Jack is absolutely fearless. He'll want the ball in any situation, it doesn't matter who he's playing against, he wants it. He wants to drive and impose himself on the game.

"I've said it previously and got laughed at – he's the closest thing to Gascoigne, in my opinion.

"We haven't seen that maverick, that guy who will turn a game on its head and literally wants the ball anywhere."

Grealish has made 213 appearances for Villa

Before Grealish broke into the Villa team, he spent the 2013/14 season on loan with Notts County when he was still a teenager.

His talent was evident even then and single-handedly kept the club in League One that season.

"We talk about the likes of Gazza in years gone by who just wanted the ball at his feet. That was him," then Notts County boss Shaun Derry told talkSPORT.

"As a young manager at the time, I needed a bit of guidance from my influences around me. Greg Abbot turned around to me and said just trust him.

"Trust him as a 17-year-old. I'm thinking 'trust a 17-year-old in League One and we're fighting for our lives'.

"The best bit of advice I could actually take on board was that. Trust him. We trusted him so much that he kept us in the league."

His teammate at the time, Jamal Campbell-Ryce added: "He was so confident. When any new player comes into the dressing room, it's always a bit daunting.

"As soon as he got onto the grass, from the first five minutes, everyone could see the talent and ability he had. 

"Jack was easily the best young player and player I've seen live and actually played with.

"He has this gift where he just glides past players and attracts players to the ball then makes the right decision."