Aston Villa boss has stated that he hopes star midfielder James Milner will stay at the club despite interest coming in from Manchester City (5/1 to win the Premier League)  for the player.

Milner had a strong season with the West Midlands club in their last campaign which earned him a place in the England World Cup squad.

The former Leeds United academy player looked like one of the better players for the Three Lions in the tournament and his future at Villa Park has been brought into question.

O’Neill will want to keep hold of the 24-year-old as he looks to continue the progress made by Villa (8/1 to finish in the top four) in recent years.

He said: “Eventually if players do want to leave the football club, or any football club for that matter, then it becomes more difficult than ever before.

“But what I will say is we have a better chance of performing in the manner in which we did last season if we could keep the best players and James Milner comes into that equation.”