Jurgen Klopp makes James Milner guarantee as Liverpool hold 'talks' to fend off Aston Villa

Liverpool have opened contract talks with James Milner in a bid to fend off interest from their Premier League rivals.

According to reports, Aston Villa are keen to re-sign Milner when his contract at Anfield expires in June.

After joining Villa from Newcastle United in 2008, Milner left for Manchester City in a £26million transfer in 2010, but he remains a popular figure with those of a claret and blue persuasion.

Milner - who also spent the 2005/06 season on loan at Villa from Newcastle - made 129 appearances for the club in total.

Klopp is determined to hang onto Milner though and recently confirmed talks are ongoing over a contract extension for the midfielder.

“There are talks, but as always, we usually don’t comment further on that. There’s no reason for it,” Klopp said. “But of course, I’m in talks, the club is in talks, with Milly. We will see.”

Despite recently turning 36, Milner is still used regularly in the Premier League by Jurgen Klopp and has made 16 appearances this season.

Only seven of those appearances have been starts though, with Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Thiago keeping Milner on Liverpool’s bench.

Milner is "desperate to play on", according to Klopp, and extend his career into its third decade.

Klopp added: “I understand it, to be honest, because life after your career – when you are lucky enough to stay healthy – is much longer than your career.

“So then you should extend your career as long as you can. If you can play football, it’s better than other things.

“Milly will be fine after his career as well, but he obviously loves what he is doing and he will play football next year, definitely.”