Aston Villa are ready to offer James Milner a bumper new deal to head off interest from Manchester City and Chelsea.

The Daily Express says Milner has dropped a broad hint that he wants to quit Villa and now manager Martin O'Neill wants to bring the issue to a head.

Manchester City have had a £20million offer for Milner, currently away with England, turned down, with rivals United and Chelsea also interested and likely to push the bidding to £30m.

But O'Neill wants Milner, 24, to stay and Villa owner Randy Lerner is also prepared to ignore the big bucks.

Midfielder Milner has two years left on his contract and talks about a new one were due to start after the World Cup. But O'Neill is prepared to meet Milner between England's two warm-up games, against Mexico at Wembley and Japan in Graz.

Lerner, chief executive Paul Faulkner and O'Neill will head the emergency talks, with Milner being offered about £70,000 a week to stay.