Aston Villa management are upbeat over their chances of hanging onto James Milner after crunch talks yesterday.
The Birmingham Mail says Milner and his representative met with chairman Randy Lerner, boss Martin O'Neill and chief executive Paul Faulkner on Monday.
Villa's three power-brokers re-iterated their stance to Milner that they do not want to sell him to Manchester City or other rival clubs.
The fact that all of them were keen to schedule the extra pre-World Cup talks and be there in person is a sign of Milner's increased importance at Villa.
And Monday's meeting at the club's Bodymoor Heath training headquarters was described as "positive and productive" by all parties.
But Milner left without fully committing himself to Villa and his future will not be resolved until he returns from South Africa in more than a month's time.