Aston Villa are 8/1 to break into the top four next season but Martin O’Neill says he is still not sure whether James Milner will be on board to help them achieve it.

Manchester City are in hot pursuit of the midfielder but the two parties have yet to agree a fee and for now Milner remains very much a Villa player.

Whether he will be in the Villa side that kicks off at home to West Ham (Villa 4/6 to win) on the opening day of the season remains to be seen, and O’Neill himself is not so sure.

“I’ve left that with the chief executive and the owner and I’m sure that they’ll fill me in with what might have developed,” O’Neill revealed.

“I think that there is some sort of dialogue going on and I think that you can see that Manchester City have made an offer which has not been accepted and it hasn’t reached the valuation that Aston Villa are putting on James. Who knows what might happen in the foreseeable future? The answer is I’m not sure myself.”