Tottenham Hotspur have yet to make a formal bid for the Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish and are some way off in their valuation of the player, according to the Championship club’s manager, Steve Bruce.

Grealish has been linked with a £20m switch to Tottenham, who have yet to make a signing in the close season. “At the moment, Spurs haven’t got anywhere near what the owners want to even consider, so there’s not a discussion to be had,” Bruce said. “I don’t think we’ve had a formal bid. The one thing that the owners have made pretty clear is no one is for sale. We don’t want to lose our best players.”

Villa lost the Championship playoff final against Fulham in May and their financial difficulties have since come to light.

However, they received a significant investment from NSWE, a company jointly owned by the billionaires Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, in July and are under no pressure to sell their prized asset.

Grealish, who joined Villa as a trainee in 2011, has become a vital part of the team with his energy and drive. The 22-year-old has Premier League experience too, with 34 games in the top flight for the club.

Bruce said Tottenham would have to pay a premium to get their man before the transfer window closes at 5pm on Thursday.

“The owners are aware that every player has got his price. The good thing they have been able to do is not let anybody go on the cheap. So if somebody wants to come and buy one of our players then they are going to have to find a premium and make sure that the owners are comfortable with that.”

Tottenham are looking to improve on their third-place finish of last season and will move into their new stadium this campaign.

Jordan Ayew’s proposed move to Crystal Palace looks unlikely to go ahead after Swansea failed to convince Jaïro Riedewald to move to south Wales as part of the deal. Palace are now understood to be looking at other targets.

Ben Gibson is set to swap Middlesbrough for Burnley in a £15m transfer after the Lancashire club saw their third bid for the centre half accepted.

The 25-year-old former England Under-21 international, and nephew of Boro’s owner Steve Gibson, has spent his career at the Riverside but feared his hopes of a senior England call up might be thwarted by another season in the Championship. He had already travelled to Millwall with the Boro squad before Saturday’s game but was swiftly diverted to East Lancashire for a medical and discussion of personal terms.

Although Tony Pulis, Boro’s manager, did not stand in Gibson’s way he had, ideally, hoped to retain a key element of his defence ahead of what the Teesside club hopes will be an automatic promotion challenge.

If Boro’s £7m capture of Aden Flint, the former Bristol City defender, earlier this summer will go a long way towards compensating for Gibson’s departure, Pulis must pray that no Premier League club activates the £18m release clause contained in the contract of their right winger, and principal element in Boro’s attacking armoury, Adama Traore.



The Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus has extended his Manchester City deal until 2023, describing his move to the Etihad Stadium as “the best decision” of his life.



Jesus’ new deal adds two more years to his previous contract, with the 21-year-old having joined in January 2017.

The Chelsea winger Pedro has signed a one-year contract extension. The 31-year-old, who moved to Stamford Bridge from Barcelona in the summer of 2015, is now under contract until 2020.

The Scotland international James Morrison has agreed a new contract with West Brom. The Championship club have announced an initial one-year deal with an option of a further 12 months.