Summer 2010 Transfer Thread: B*llsh*t, Rumours & Wishes

[Moorski]

Arteta - yes! But no reason to leave Everton for us, unless we ofer huge wage increase.

He has just signed a new 5 year contract at Everton

[themossman]

That's an interesting one - personally I rate Milner more, so would put Young's value lower..especially as he can't cover at right back.

Young is a better player than Milner, all day long and twice on Tuesdays.

Agree, and I also get the impression MON rates him more than milner. He's certainly been quicker to reel off superlatives about him in interviews.

[Mazrim]

MARTIN O’Neill is hopeful of making Stephen Ireland Villa’s first summer signing ahead of Saturday’s Premier League kick-off against West Ham United.

James Milner’s drawn out move to Manchester City is expected to be concluded on Thursday when he returns from international duty with England.

And Villa are optimistic City midfielder Ireland will move in the opposite direction in time for this weekend’s top flight opener against the Hammers.

O’Neill, Randy Lerner and Paul Faulkner are working to bolster the squad before Villa’s Premier League and Europa League campaigns get underway.

Milner’s eventual exit would provide significant funds for O’Neill to reinvest as well as the likely arrival of Ireland at Villa Park before the weekend.

Ireland is reportedly being used as an £8 million makeweight in a £26 million deal which will also see City pay Villa £18 million, although Craig Bellamy and Roque Santa Cruz have also been discussed during Villa’s negotiations with City over Milner.

Captain Stiliyan Petrov insist the Villa players are familiar with O’Neill’s policy of doing business late in the transfer window, but have total faith in the manager.

“We believe the manager’s going to do his best to bring some fresh players in and that’s going to give us a lift,” said Petrov. “I’ll be happy if we bring in players like we did last year with Richard Dunne, James Collins and Stephen Warnock.

“They got in, in the last few days, but they were outstanding for us and we’ll wait for the last three days again if we pick the same quality that will be great.

“We all keep faith in him. We know the way he’s working. He says that in the transfer window you can work up to the last minute and usually that’s what he does.

“We’re used to that, we’re sure that he’s going to bring players in and he’s going to strengthen the squad.

“What’s going to happen with James we’ll see and hopefully that’s going to be sorted out, we can get the money and spend it on some other players.

“Everybody’s replaceable, we let Gareth Barry go last year, as long as you replace them with another good player, it’s great.”

O’Neill revealed at Friday’s friendly draw with Valencia that Milner was on the verge of joining City and Eastlands boss Roberto Mancini confirmed that the deal was close, but might not be completed until the end of the week.

Milner is currently training with Fabio Capello’s England squad ahead of Wednesday’s Wembley friendly with Hungary and Villa accept that it is unlikely that the finishing touches will be put to the club’s record sale until Thursday.

Meanwhile, Villa are facing a deepening central defensive crisis just six weeks before the start of the season after Richard Dunne suffered a knee injury on Republic of Ireland duty.

Dunne sustained a slight knock in training ahead of Ireland’s friendly against Argentina on Wednesday and will have a scan today.

It is hoped that it is only a minor problem and Dunne is still in contention to play for his country as well as for Villa against West Ham.

But with James Collins (calf), Carlos Cuellar (hamstring) and Curtis Davies (knee) also injured, Villa could be down to the untried central pairing of Habib Beye and rookie Ciaran Clark.

[JJ-AV]

Spurs have obviously had some encouragement on the Ashley front, they've been after him for 2 years now.

4 years in to the new regime and we're at risk of losing our best players to Man City and Tottenham.

[Mazrim]

Where exactly have Spurs "had some encouragement" on the Ashley front?

4 years into the new regime and we're getting stupid money for decent players plus just as good players in return.
See what I did there?

[Concrete John]

If £18m plus Ireland is what it takes to get the deal finished, then I'd take it even if it does mean dropping from the £30m valuation.

[Mazrim]

The "word on the street" is that its all sorted. Milner is off and Ireland is on.
There was just a matter of Man City and Ireland resolving their financial differences.

[Concrete John]

Thanks for that, Huggy Bear.

[abc123cox]

Ireland and £18m is best deal of the transfer market ever, i like Milner a lot but i would of been happy with just £18m for him, but having a player of Ireland's quality would be ace and £18m lol Martin is lauphing all the way with this one and if they wanna throw Roque, Ireland and £10m i'll be even more happy!

[Irish villain]

I wish the Milner deal was just completed to be honest and can't see why it is still dragging. Could it be Ireland's wage demands? I see United are being linked with a last ditch move for him. I hope the Citeh deal goes through so we get Ireland in return.

[Dave Clark Five]

Ireland is currently on £70000 per week plus £10000 per match.
He is a gippo apparently and quite a complex character.

[Monty]

quite a complex character.

Excellent, I'm a little fed up of the solid, 110% lads that predominate our squad. Ok, granted, I don't want a Joey Barton-style 'character', but someone with a little more individuality would be nice.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Ireland is currently on £70000 per week plus £10000 per match.
He is a gippo apparently and quite a complex character.

Are you serious? That's shocking money, Mind he wouldn't have picked up much bonusses last year

[pablopicasso_10]

this is a quote from a usually honest and reliable man city fan over at another forum i use when discussing the merits of ireland versus milner that i found very interesting...

That's the thing, when Ireland had his incredible season he worked harder than I've ever seen anyone work for City. He was up and down, tackling, making interceptions, closing opponents down. Honestly, he was absolutely sensational. It'll be tragic if he never regains that kind of form because he's shown everyone what a talent he is and if he could have kept that up then he would have potentially been a world class player. Unfortunately, he's in danger of being branded a 'one season wonder'. If MON gets him playing like he did that season you won't lose any industry.

[mozza]

I was half asleep this morning but I'm sure that 5Live reported that Robbie Keane was staying put at Spurs -

Being as they don't normally broadcast 'gossip' I'm beginning to wonder if MON has any other possible targets
other than Stephen Ireland-

The Milner saga has become a joke (but no one is laughing) ...........Holte End hero Ian Taylor was talking on
TalkSport last night with Ray Houghton and believed £20m was as much as JM was worth and we should have
done the deal weeks ago-