Villa looked set to sell their star player for £20million but Grealish appears to be staying at the club after Naseef Sawaris and Wes Edens' takeover

Tottenham’s ploy to drive down Jack Grealish’s asking price has backfired.

Chairman Daniel Levy was playing a waiting game for the former England Under-21 international midfielder, but this blew up in Levy’s face after a shock five-day sale of the Championship club late last week.

1 Grealish was valued at £40m by Villa but the club seemed resigned to selling him for £20m due to their financial woes

And according to the Daily Mirror, Egyptian billionaire Naseef Sawaris and American Wes Edens (who have a combined wealth of $40billion – making them the third richest owners in English football) have told Grealish he will not be leaving Villa.

The new owners also pumped in the cash to prevent Villa from falling into administration.

A Villa source said: “Spurs could have pushed the button on this two weeks ago before the takeover. They didn’t. And now the owners have said that neither he, nor James Chester are going anywhere.

“They want to build Villa. That’s not going to happen by selling the club’s best players.”

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Villans manager Steve Bruce was given the news at a meeting with his new bosses earlier this week.

He has also had his own position confirmed despite reports linking Thierry Henry with the manager’s job.

And with the new campaign starting next weekend and the transfer window closing in less than two weeks, Bruce needs the backing to make a push for promotion to the Premier League after losing May’s play-off final to Fulham.