Race is on: Manchester City have kicked off the transfer fight for Villa's James MilnerThe battle for James Milner started in dramatic fashion last night as Aston Villa rejected a £20million offer from Manchester City for the midfielder.
As revealed exclusively by Sportsmail, City boss Roberto Mancini has kicked off what will undoubtedly be the fiercest domestic transfer fight of the summer by making an initial bid for the England World Cup hopeful.
However, Villa are determined to hold on to Milner and reiterated their desire to hold talks over a new long-term contract with the 24-year-old after the tournament.
A Villa spokesman said: 'We have received an offer from Manchester City for James Milner and this has been firmly rejected.
'We plan to sit down with James and his representative after the World Cup to agree a new long-term deal and this remains our position.'
Milner has two years remaining on his £45,000-a-week deal and, having seen former team-mate Gareth Barry benefit by moving to City, he can be expected to take notice of a contract that could be worth double his current deal.
Close: O'Neill hopes to keep hod of MilnerVilla owner Randy Lerner and manager Martin O'Neill insist they are confident of keeping the midfielder but a City bid in the region of £25-30m should be sufficient to secure his signature.
It is also possible that some other players at Eastlands, such as Craig Bellamy, Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips, could be of interest to Villa by way of part-exchange.
source: dailymail
