Milner has been on loan at Villa from Newcastle and the club were believed to be keen to sign him permanently.

But Auxerre's sacking of boss Jacques Santini has complicated matters as Villa are believed to have to sell Berson to fund any Milner move.

Berson's agent Olivier Jouanneaux said: "We do not know what will happen now."

He added: "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."

O'Leary is also believed to be keen to sign midfielder Eirik Bakke from Leeds but chairman Doug Ellis seems unlikely to make the funds available for such a move.

Ellis said: "He can't even get into the Leeds side on a regular basis. That's my answer to that."