• Young interests Tottenham and Liverpool
• Milner poised to join Manchester City

Aston Villa could face further upheaval this summer after it emerged that Martin O’Neill may struggle to keep hold of Ashley Young as well as James Milner. Young has caught the eye of leading Premier League teams over the past two years, including Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Liverpool, as well as a number of top European clubs. Villa may well find it difficult to persuade the England international to stay if interest crystallises into a formal offer.

Young, 25, is happy at Villa but also fiercely ambitious and keen to regain his England place after missing out on the World Cup. With Milner set to join Manchester City, provided Villa’s valuation is met, O’Neill will not want to contemplate losing Young in the same transfer window.

The former Watford winger remains one of the club’s most influential players, despite failing to reproduce the form last season that saw him win the Professional Footballers Association’s young player of the year award in 2009. O’Neill has long regarded Young as integral to his plans and would almost certainly value him at more than double the £9.6m Villa paid Watford three and a half years ago.

Tottenham have considered making a move for Young but felt it would be impossible to prise him out of Villa Park while the two clubs were operating on an equal footing in the Premier League. Whether that interest is rekindled after Tottenham’s top-four finish last season remains to be seen. Harry Redknapp, Spurs’ manager, is pursuing Joe Cole, who is available on a free transfer from Chelsea.

Manchester City inquired about Young before the end of the season but their pursuit of Milner and recent signing of the Spain international David Silva make it unlikely that they will take things further. Liverpool’s interest would be dependent on possible departures from Anfield. There have also been suggestions that Young’s name has appeared on Internazionale’s radar since Rafael Benítez took over at the Italian champions.

Villa are expected to attempt to head off any interest by seeking to tie Young to an improved long-term contract. He has just entered the final two years of a four-year deal and talks over new terms are set to begin before the transfer window closes. How active Villa are in the market between now and then is likely to be strongly linked to what happens with Milner. Randy Lerner, the club’s chairman, suggested at the end of last season that there would be a “sell to buy” policy.

Aston VillaStuart Jamesguardian.co.uk

• O’Neill wants to find out if owner is ‘as enthused as ever’
• ‘Even to stand still you have to move forwards at pace’

Martin O’Neill has given the strongest indication yet that he will remain as Aston Villa manager provided he receives assurances from Randy Lerner that he will be given the financial support to enable the club to compete at the top end of the Premier League again next season.

O’Neill met Lerner briefly on Wednesday and will hold further talks with the Villa chairman next week, when he hopes to have a wider discussion about the club’s direction and their ability to continue to present a challenge to Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton.

The Villa manager described Lerner as “really enthusiastic” and remarked on the “strong plans” he has for redeveloping the stadium, although how they strengthen the team remains the critical issue that promises to decide his future.

The Northern Irishman, who was in buoyant mood before the final game of the season, when Villa can guarantee a third successive top-six finish with victory over Blackburn Rovers, maintained that he has lost none of his appetite for the job. Indeed O’Neill claimed he felt “reinvigorated” and sounded like someone who wanted to know whether his chairman, after four years at the helm, still felt as excited as him about taking on the challenges ahead.

“I think you have to have a commitment, which is there, you have to have an enthusiasm, a drive and determination and you have to renew that at the start of every season, me as a manager, which is a given, and I think owners of a football club, like Randy, would be exactly the same,” O’Neill said. “You have to get refreshed again and go again.”

With Manchester City expected to spend heavily again to push for a place in the top four and beyond, and Spurs likely to invest to enhance their prospects in the Champions League, O’Neill warned “even to stand still you have to move forward at pace”. Whether Lerner can support another summer of investment after Villa’s accounts recently revealed a record £43.7m loss for the previous campaign remains to be seen but O’Neill is keen to discover the answer.

“It would be pretty important to try and find out what we’re going to try and do,” he said. “Just looking in general terms, Manchester City will be very disappointed they didn’t get into the Champions League. But you know that their intention is not just to break into the top four, but to try and win the championship – and they’ve got the spending power to do so.

“Well done, Tottenham. Brilliant effort to get there. And they, I would assume, would get stronger for the Champions League. And you can imagine Everton … I know David Moyes said when they’ve got everyone fit they’re a match for anybody.”

Those are observations O’Neill intends to make when he sits down with Lerner, although he is also eager for the chairman to outline his plans for the club in public, something he is expected to do in a rare press conference next week. “I will sit down next week as I said I would do,” O’Neill said. “It will be interesting just to discuss things. Four years on, viewpoints, are you still as enthused as ever? But whatever’s coming is better coming from Randy and I don’t want to put words in his mouth.”

Aston VillaMartin O’NeillPremier LeagueStuart Jamesguardian.co.uk