Aston Villa will not let Jack Grealish go that easy. The team captain is a target signing of Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but Villa just gave Grealish a compelling reason not to leave - a pay rise that will see his weekly wage climbing to £100,000.

The bumper offer is a significant upgrade to the skipper's present paycheck of £70,000 and signified too that Grealish's current side is unwilling to lose him.

Villa narrowly escaped relegation in the last term and mostly because of the 24-year-old midfielder. The side of Dean Smith has plans to beef up the roster for a better Premier League campaign next season and a good start for the team is to keep the best player around.

The Sun said Villa's offer of a pay rise to Grealish is part of the team strengthening that will be implemented during the season break. Villa Park will be hunting for quality additions in the summer transfer window and Smith will be given a hiring budget of £100 million for talent scouting.

The club is expected to bring in up to four recruits and to give salary increases to other key Villa players, the report added.

It is understood as well that Villa would want Grealish to sign a new deal with the club, a move that is seen to further increase the star's market value, which the side has set at £75 million.

The Villa ace will reportedly meet with his club's hierarchy next week to talk about his future, according to Metro.

Grealish has indicated recently that he is keen on moving out from his boyhood club and is ready for greater challenges once he sees that Villa will stay in the Premier League. With that goal achieved, he is expected to prepare for the summer jump to Old Trafford.

However, the player's dreamed transfer to the Red Devils could be jeopardized by Villa's resolve to keep him, and if that is not possible anymore, to sell him with no provision for a cut-price deal.

United will only pay £55 million for the release of Grealish and Solskjaer said there is no intention to go any further. It would appear that the Norwegian is willing to wait out for Villa to accept his offer as he stated recently that there is no rush on his part to complete any summer deals.

And it is believed that the United boss has prioritized the signing of Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund. For Grealish, that could mean United will only continue talking to Villa after the Sancho business deal has been completed.

If Sancho will sign with United, it is possible too that Solskjaer will forego or at least postpone the Grealish signing for the next transfer window.