Berson puts brakes on Milner move

Milner has been on loan at Villa from Newcastle and the club were believed to be keen to sign him permanently, but former France manager Santini's dismissal last Wednesday could raise questions over funding. Berson's agent Olivier Jouanneaux said: "We do not know what will happen now. It depends on the new manager at Auxerre and what he wants to do because Mathieu is on a good salary. We know Aston Villa would like to sell him but we have had no news from them about that.

"For the moment we do not know what is happening. Nobody is telling us anything. It is not an easy situation. But if he has to go back to Aston Villa, then he will." There could be a silver lining to this cloud, however, as failure to raise coffers would also prevent O'Leary signing one-touch (and then he loses it) Eirik Bakke from Leeds, although in a rare moment of pleasure Doug Ellis appears unlikely to allow such a move anyway. "He can't even get into the Leeds side on a regular basis," the chairman said. "That's my answer to that."