The Milner Novela... Final episode page 296

[Rudy Can't Fail]

According to the Daily Mail, it would appear Citeh and Chelsea think £24m will be enough for us to part with young James.

Manchester City nip in quick for £24m Aston Villa star James Milner as Chelsea express interest

Manchester City will give the first sign in the next 48 hours of their summer transfer spending power with an offer for Aston Villa midfielder James Milner, thought to be £24million.

Mindful of Fabio Capello's rule that England players must not negotiate transfers during World Cup duty, City have moved quickly.

They expect Chelsea to compete for Milner and want to declare their interest first. Villa are expecting Chelsea to match City's offer this week.

Sources close to the player believe Villa will demand closer to £30m to even consider selling Milner, 24, which would make him one of the most expensive signings in English football history.

The England midfielder has had an excellent season with Aston Villa, but City believe Randy Lerner is ready to cash in on the former Leeds and Newcastle star. Lerner has told manager Martin O'Neill he must sell before he can buy.

O'Neill is likely to resist the transfer, but it would enable him to add to his squad this summer. Selling the popular Milner for £24m would represent a 100 per cent profit for Villa, who signed him from Newcastle for £12m in 2008.

Complete article here.

[KevinGage]

At the risk of being lynched, if it pushes up closer to £30 million I'd be tempted to bite. That's close to a British transfer record, after all.

Last season was big for him, but our midfield still looked overrun and short of ideas for large parts of the campaign. £30 mill on top of any other money set aside from RL would give us a chance to substantially restructure that area and up top.

I accept it might look like a backward step, but a large part of where Tottenham have got to is based on trading at profit. Carrick signed for £3 mill > sold at £16 mill; Berbatov signed for £10 mill > sold for £30 mill and so on.

[BannedUserIAT]

This would be a much easier decision if our 'Scouting Network' had the ability to find a gem to replace him. Trouble is, they don't, so replacing him will cost around £30 million.

I also don't belive that we've anyone from the youth set-up that's close to being premiership-ready (on a full-time basis) and Delph is a season away from showing what he's capable of again.

Having Milner is like having an extra player. We've seen that when Petrov fades away. So we'd have to buy two bloody good midfielders to give us that kind of energy and flexibility. Is MoN capable of finding them.

I dunno.

[KevinGage]

Any potential replacement won't be an unknown gem scouted for months, I'd be pretty certain of that.

Doesn't have to be a direct replacement either, but say Ireland and a genuine DM might go along way to giving us more variation in the middle of the park.

[KevinGage]

Pure conjecture, but would Barry and Ireland plus money on top be a bad deal?

[Beijing Villan]

Deja vu all over again. Man City in for quality Villa midfielder.

Given Milner's storming performances this season it is no surprise that clubs are sniffing around him. On a positive note I'm glad that it is Citeh and Chelsea who are doing the sniffing, maximises our fee potential.

Don't want to see Milner go, but if we are offered silly money then we would have to consider who we could bring in as a replacement. 24 mill is simply a conversation starter, if it happens it will likely be closer to 30 mill.

How much will vdV cost us?

One ace up our sleeve is to remind Jimmy to look at what happened to GazBaz. He made his name at Villa, he earned his England place at Villa but then he struggled a little at Man City. From being a locked on England starter he seems to have fallen a little down the pecking order given his performances this season.

Every player has his price and every player is replacable. Even Manure found it hard to say no when someone offered 60mill for the ladyboy.

[BannedUserIAT]

Does anyone know anything about Milner's agent?
Is he a deceptive bag of filth like Barry's who'll quickly calculate what 10% of the deal is worth and start touting his client about?

Milner doesn't strike me as the kind of lad that would fuck the Villa over. When Newcastle buggered him, he just went to work in a professional manner for the people who paid his salary and they got a good price for him from the Villa. As such, whatever dollar value Money City and Chelsea are prepared to pay, I'm pretty confident that we'll get every last penny of it.

[VillaZogmariner]

I don't think Milner has an agent, I think he uses the PFA instead.

[Countryside Villain]

To coin a recent phrase, this would be  a red line for me.  All other players have a price this season but Milner staying is an absolute must.  We are not a feeder club and shouldn't be seen as willing to part with our best players every summer.

[Guy M]

I don't remember us selling our best player a couple of years ago when a Chumps League side came calling (in the papers).

And I don't remember us selling our best player last summer. I do however remember us getting rid of a certain Lardarse who ended up finishing the season qualifying for the same European competition as us.

Until proved otherwise, this rumour however is nothing other than a rumour and deserves to go here. Or indeed here. Glad to know that place still exists. But why does nobody say 100% gospel any more?!

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Our transfer funds are limited, so if we want to overhaul the squad, we may have to sell.

It'll be like the David Platt saga all over again.

[garyfouroaks]

 We are not a feeder club and shouldn't be seen as willing to part with our best players every summer.

I am a huge Milner fan, I thought he was great in his loan season, and has been outstanding for us as a permanent signing. I don't wnt him to go.

But the reality is that this summer he is going to be seduced by all those other high-rollers at the World Cup and Randy will have the prospect of a tify profit to consider - to offset a number of transfer losses.The resale values of Harewood, NRC, Petrov and Sidwell are perhaps £10m between them - as opposed to the £25m odd outlaid.

Feeder club? It is only in recent years that the better clubs have wanted our players.

[Chris Harte]

Our transfer funds are limited, so if we want to overhaul the squad, we may have to sell.

It'll be like the David Platt saga all over again.

I seem to remember a lot of good came out of that.

Saunders, Atkinson, Teale, Richardson, Houghton, Staunton, Parker and possibly others I've forgotten.

That said, we had a manager who could wheel and deal back then. I not sure the present one can.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Our transfer funds are limited, so if we want to overhaul the squad, we may have to sell.

It'll be like the David Platt saga all over again.

I seem to remember a lot of good came out of that.

Saunders, Atkinson, Teale, Richardson, Houghton, Staunton, Parker and possibly others I've forgotten.

That said, we had a manager who could wheel and deal back then. I not sure the present one can.

Indeed.
Atkinson assembled a new squad and in his 2nd season nearly won us the League.
I honestly wouldn't trust MON to spend the proceeds wisely.

[Mr Diggles]

If the fee was £30m as a minimum I could understand if Villa accept it. I'd be really gutted to see him go though, not just because of his quality, but he seems a really genuine, honest bloke as well, and in these days it's getting harder and harder to 'like' the players in the game.

I'd also be concerned about how MON could spend the money - does he have the guts or motivation to spend that money on a number of players that will take us forward again, gievn that the next step up will be the hardest. If he had more of a scouting network and was willing to purchase non-UK-based players I'd be more confident.

Then again, it might all be bobbins.