Milner holds talks with O´Neill on Villa return

Aston Villa midfielder James Milner held peace talks on Monday with the club’s manager Martin O’Neill, in an attempt to defuse the row over his potential move to Manchester City.

Milner was reported to be angry that O’Neill went public with his belief the England star wants to quit Villa in favour of a switch to big-spending City.

City have already had a 20 million pounds (23.9 million euros) offer for Milner rejected by Villa, but O’Neill claimed last week that he was willing to give in to the player’s wish to leave if his asking price was met.

The situation remains unresolved as City are determined not to be forced to pay over the odds, but O’Neill and Milner met on Monday in a bid to ensure there were no lingering ill-feelings.

Milner and his representative, PFA executive Matthew Buck, sat down with O’Neill and club chief executive Paul Faulkner and Villa issued a statement claiming the talks had been friendly.

It read: “James Milner trained with the rest of the Villa squad today at Bodymoor Heath.

“He and the manager, along with chief executive Paul Faulkner and the player’s representative, Matthew Buck, had an amicable conversation.

“While James will not play in tomorrow’s game at Walsall, he will fly with the squad to Portugal on Wednesday ahead of the Guadiana Cup in which Villa will compete with Benfica and Feyenoord this weekend.”