Aston Villa must be resigned to losing Jack Grealish at some point. 

The midfielder was arguably the only bright spark during their relegation campaign of 2015/16 and since then, he's got bigger and better. 

In the Villains' first season back in the top flight, the 24-year-old has recorded seven goals and five assists and that's been enough to attract interest from Manchester United. 

Perhaps Grealish isn't the kind of signing United fans would typically have got excited about once upon a time. 

That said, the England hopeful has an immensely powerful right foot, an eye for goal and can create space to a level that has given Villa hope when few expected them to stay up. 

So yes, we can certainly believe that the Red Devils are interested. 

That's where The Sun's latest report comes in, claiming Grealish is also a target of both Barcelona and Real Madrid. 

Now either the newspaper has got the wrong end of the stick here, or maybe Sam Allardyce has some inside info, as the former Premier League boss actually made a similar claim on talkSPORT this morning. 

Allardyce said Grealish has the ability to play for the two La Liga giants, which is obviously quite a different scenario from them actually making an approach. 

If the rumour is true, however, it would be a severe blow to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who had decided to prioritise signing the Villa star over Leicester playmaker James Maddison. 

Grealish has always emphasised his local ties to his current club but that would surely go out the window in the event of a formal bid.

United, meanwhile, will have to hope no Champions League clubs come in for him in the summer or they will naturally struggle to tempt him to Old Trafford.

It's expected that he could cost as much as £60 million.