Aston Villa told Todd Cantwell transfer will cost a huge £40m as they look to replace Jack Grealish

ASTON VILLA will have to pay Norwich a massive £40million to replace Jack Grealish with Todd Cantwell.

England midfielder Grealish is on the verge of a £100m move to Manchester City and Villa have identified Cantwell as a potential replacement.

Yet Norwich do not want to sell the former England under-21 international having already lost Emi Buendia to Villa in a £33m transfer which could be worth £38m.

But if Villa beat that previous deal with a bigger offer – £40m – Norwich will not be able to resist the cash.

If Grealish, 25, smashes the British record for a transfer fee, the club know they will have to pay over the odds for a replacement.

Cantwell, 23, who came through Norwich’s youth system, wanted to leave Carrow Road at the start of last season as the club was in the Championship.

But now Cantwell is no longer in a rush to leave the club as they have returned to the Premier League.

Canaries boss Daniel Farke even left Cantwell out of his squad because the player’s attitude was not right although he soon returned to the team and helped the side to the title.

COMPETITION: SPOT THE BALL TO WIN A CAR AND CASH

Financially, Norwich are in a good position and have money to sign new players before the start of the season regardless of the Cantwell situation.

Farke has looked to build on his Championship-winning squad with the additions of Milot Rashica, Dimitrios Giannoulis, Angus Gunn and Pierre Melou, while Ben Gibson also made his loan permanent.

Their first game is at home to Liverpool on August 14.

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