Manchester City chiefs must decide whether to meet Aston Villa's asking price for James Milner.
The Manchester Evening News says City, who have already shelled out an amazing £60m this summer creating a new all-stars international team, will have to up their current offer to £30m in order to land the Villa and England midfielder.
Mancini has been determined the Blues do not pay over the top in transfer fees and has already snapped up a trio of superstars Yaya Toure from the Ivory Coast, Germany's Jerome Boateng and David Silva who is in contention to start for Spain in Sunday's World Cup final against Holland.
The question for the Blues hierarchy is whether to test Villa's resolve with a final £30m bid.
But Villa, who bought Milner for £12m two years ago from Newcastle, are up for a fight to keep him by offering the player a lucrative new contract.
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