Manchester City are expected to return with a new bid for Aston Villa midfielder James Milner.
Villa dramatically rejected City's opening offer yesterday as Milner kicked off World Cup training with England.
A Villa spokesman said: "We have received an offer from Manchester City for James Milner and this has been firmly rejected.
"We plan to sit down with James and his representative after the World Cup to agree a new long-term deal and this remains our position."
The Daily Mail says Villa owner Randy Lerner and manager Martin O'Neill insist they are confident of keeping the midfielder but a City bid in the region of £25-30m should be sufficient to secure his signature.
It is also possible that some other players at Eastlands, such as Craig Bellamy, Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips, could be of interest to Villa by way of part-exchange.