Man City to offer players for Villa's James Milner

Manchester City are set to offer Villa a choice of four players plus £20m in their next move for James Milner.

The mega-rich Eastlands club have already seen a straight £20m cash offer for the England star rejected by Villa but plan to tempt them by throwing either Shaun Wright-Phillips,

Stephen Ireland, Micah Richards or Nedum Onuoha into the deal.

City are expected to make the bid next week with boss Roberto Mancini believed to be desperate to tie up the transfer before the World Cup, but they could still face competition from Manchester United and Chelsea, who could also offer Champions League football next season.

Villa remain determined to keep the 24-year-old and boss Martin O'Neill and chief executive Paul Faulkner are due to meet the player and his PFA agent after England's warm-up games with Mexico and Japan.

It is understood Villa hope to secure a verbal agreement from the newly-crowned PFA Young Player of the Year, who is set to start in Monday's friendly at Wembley, before he travels to South Africa.

Ireland has admitted he is unsure over his future, while England Under-21 defender Onuoha looks certain to leave Eastlands after publicly criticising Mancini. Wright-Phillips and Birmingham-born Richards have found themselves on the periphery.