James Milner will head off for the World Cup today with Villa adamant Manchester City must stump up £30million to land the England star.

The midfielder returned from his country’s training camp in Austria to hold an hour-long discussion with manager Martin O’Neill, owner Randy Lerner and chief executive Paul Faulkner on Monday, but his future is no closer to being resolved.

Milner, who has two years to run on his existing deal, remains an integral part of the club’s long-term plans in talks with the 24-year-old which Villa have described as positive.

A new deal worth around £70,000 a week which would see him overtake Ashley Young to become the club’s highest earner is believed to have been put on the table but the midfielder departed without agreeing to sign.

While Villa did not expect the PFA Young Player of the Year to put pen to paper on a new deal this week, there will be disappointment as he jets out to South Africa today without even a verbal agreement in place.

Although Milner will now almost certainly remain a Villa player for the next month – in keeping with Three Lions coach Fabio Capello’s strict policy that players refrain from transfer discussions during the tournament – a major question mark remains over whether he will still be at the club by the start of next season.

Certainly, the ball has now been thrown firmly back into City’s court and it is clear they will have to significantly improve the £20million offer which was instantly rejected a fortnight ago.

Potentially, it could mean a repeat of the summer-long saga which surrounded Gareth Barry two years ago when Villa refused to budge in their valuation of the midfielder and a move to Liverpool failed to materialise.

Mega-rich City, who eventually snaffled Barry a year ago, will now have to decide whether they are prepared to pay top dollar for Milner – and interest from Manchester United and Chelsea will only strengthen Villa’s hand.

One likely scenario is that City’s next offer includes one of Shaun Wright-Phillips, Stephen Ireland, Nedum Onuoha and Micah Richards but what is unquestionably clear is that Villa are in no hurry to cash in and will only do business if the deal is right for them.