Jack Grealish preferred Manchester United to Manchester City once upon a time.

He's obviously Aston Villa through and through but old tweets that have since resurfaced shows he leaned towards the Red Devils more than City.

As a youngster Grealish leaned more to Man United than City
This tweet has since been deleted

The Manchester clubs went toe-to-toe in a nail-biting Premier League title race in 2011/12 which came to arguably the greatest crescendo in English football league history with Sergio Aguero scoring THAT goal against QPR on the final day.

Before all the drama unfolded, Grealish tweeted: "Football is on! Please united win and city lose, I cannot see city win lol, come on the villa as well," he wrote before using the hashtag '#prayforstan' in reference to former Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov, who was diagnosed with leukaemia.

City beat United at the Etihad Stadium 1-0 two weeks earlier and Grealish was willing Sir Alex Ferguson's men on, too.

He tweeted: "En route to training, finally I'm back training and the sun's shining, absolutely BUZZING for the game tonight, come on you REDS."

Unsurprisingly this tweet has also been deleted

Fantastic displays in Villa's first season back in the top flight, in the 2019/20 season, led to rumours linking Grealish with an Old Trafford move, however, he put them to bed when he signed a new contract with his club.

A year later the rumours surrounding a Grealish exit continue but United's rivals City are the only club in real contention to get him.

The Villa captain, 25, has made his love for his boyhood club very clear but an offer from City will be very tempting.

Grealish would play alongside his 'favourite ever player' in Kevin De Bruyne should he make the move.

Imagine how good Grealish would get playing alongside the two-time PFA Player of the Year winner

On De Bruyne, Grealish said last year: "I'm half starstruck when I play against Kevin De Bruyne because he's my favourite player ever.

"I think he's unbelievable, I think he's easily the best player in the Premier League at the moment.

"He's someone I personally look up to at the moment and try and, not base my game on him, but try and take stuff from his game and put that into mine."

City are also understood to be after Grealish's England teammate Harry Kane. If they land both players, Pep Guardiola's men will become even more formidable than they already are.

City with Grealish and Kane. Bear in mind Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva would be on the bench!

Kane is seemingly trying to force through a move to the Etihad by not reporting to the training ground as expected on Monday morning.

That was in contrast to Grealish who joined his Villa team-mates for pre-season training after his holiday, which was extended due to his Euro 2020 excursions.

With Kane, up front and supplied by Grealish, Phil Foden and De Bruyne, it will be very hard to stop them next season.