Gary Mabbutt, while speaking exclusively with Football FanCast, has suggested Tottenham Hotspur no longer need to sign Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish two years on from Daniel Levy chasing his signature.

Grealish was the subject of a £25million bid by the north London club in 2018 as Levy moved to complete his side’s long-running pursuit, after negotiations with the then-22-year-old dragged on throughout the summer.

Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens ultimately blocked the deal shortly into their tenure as majority owners of the Birmingham-based outfit, much to the midfielder’s disappointment.

Grealish expected to be sold by former Villans chief Dr Tony Xia in 2018, and revealed to The Telegraph following the end of the window: “Of course there's going to be disappointment.

“At the start of the season my head was swivelled, it was all over the place. Even after the transfer window closed, until the end of August, I wasn't right. I thought I was leaving. Before the new owners, Villa needed the money so I kind of accepted that me going would save the club.”

Villa have seen Grealish’s stock skyrocket in the years to follow, with reports this summer claiming Sawiris and Edens now demanded at least £80m amid interest from Manchester United after helping Dean Smith’s side to stave off relegation on the final day of last season.

But Mabbutt believes Tottenham no longer need to sign Grealish, with Jose Mourinho guiding the north London side to a potential Premier League title challenge with Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane firing on all cylinders.

“Yes, I’m not saying he’s someone we should be going after now,” the former Spurs man told FFC.

Grealish has been a talismanic force for Aston Villa since the West Midlands outfit’s return to the Premier League, sparking Sawiris and Edens to more than triple the valuation Xia slapped on the 25-year-old in 2018.

Only Manchester City star Kevin de Bruyne (137) registered a higher number of key passes than Grealish (91) in the Premier League last term, while ranking fourth for accurate final third passes (558) and eighth for successful dribbles (73), per SofaScore.

Wilfried Zaha (325) and Adama Traore (293) were also the only top-flight players to win a greater amount of ground duels than Grealish (267), who ended the campaign as the most fouled player (167) with 47 more decisions given than anyone else.

Grealish’s efforts further saw the boyhood Villans fan earn his England debut under Gareth Southgate this September. He was rewarded with a new, five-year contract worth £120,000-per-week at Villa Park.

The midfield maestro has already begun to justify Aston Villa’s lucrative offer, too, with the 5 ft 10 wizard among the top-flight’s best for successful dribbles (21), key passes (22), big chances created (7) and times fouled (36) this season while boasting four goals and six assists in eight appearances.

AND in other news, Gary Mabbutt has exclusively told Football FanCast what Jose Mourinho did “a lot of” at Tottenham.