'Please don't do this' - Aston Villa boss Carla Ward reveals desperate response to Man City's Laura Blindkilde Brown transfer approach after call from Gareth Taylor

Villa sold Blindkilde Brown to City in January for a massive fee that approached the British transfer record of £250,000 ($317,000), following a rapid rise at the club. She racked up over 50 appearances for the club and was also voted their Player of the Year for the past two seasons, and Ward has revealed that she fought desperately to keep her in the Midlands.

Ward said on the Boots, Balls and Bras podcast: "Gareth rang me, I've got a good relationship with him, and he said: 'Look, we're a couple of midfielders down' and I said 'don't even think about it'. He said: 'Look, we're going to be coming in for Laura. I wanted to give you a heads-up out of respect, we have a really good relationship'. My exact words were: 'Please don't do this because it will hurt us'.

"It happened quite quickly, I rang Lee straight away, our director of football, and said: 'We can't allow this to happen'. I must admit, I was quite vocal about it, I was gutted, it was something I really didn't want to happen, we didn't need it to happen, but sometimes things are completely out of your control."

Blindkilde Brown is an England Under 21 international and it seems only a matter of time before she is playing for the Lionesses. She is just 20 and given the fee attached to her, and her previous form, one has to expect that she will soon make the jump to senior international football.

City play Everton on Saturday. Villa, by comparison, face Liverpool. Villa are eighth in the Women's Super League, while City are second, level on points with leaders Chelsea but behind them on goal difference.