The Milner Novela... Final episode page 296

[mshurst]

I just noticed I'd said "Aston Cilla". I'm a daft twat.

Anyway...

If it is true (keep your heads on, people, it is the Mirror) then we should definately take it.

If they're going to say "have £23m and we'll give you some more if/when we qualify for Champions League" then they can fuck off.

O'Neill has said he doesn't want less than £30m. But again, these are just rumours.

To be fair though, it's nice to see Villa in the paper a bit more than "Yeah, that Birmingham team signed someone from somewhere ... Yeah, he's British."

Here's the Mirror story.

On a lighter note...

[john e]

so we want 30 mill, and they value milner at 20-23 mill, which is still more than he's actualy worth , but hey ho.

We tell City no deal,
 Milner puts in a transfer request -

  1. we stick to our guns, and take a unhappy player into next season,
one which everybody knows doesnt want to be here, and then sell him for reletive peanuts come the end of the season after his disapointing form.

 2. give in take the money invest wisely in Ireland /Parker or such lilke, and rebuild

of coarse they could just offer 28-30 mill, we say thank you ,and all is well, but i doubt very much that this will happen

[eastie]

I think if their final offer was £23 m plus addons I'd probably still take it, but try and push them up to £25m 1st, Ireland would be ideal if we could do a part exchange plus £15m.

Would be nice to hear from mon soon and find out where exactly things stand, there seems to be a veil of silence around villa park at the moment.

[PhilGibson]

Why should we take less than the money they paid for Lescott last summer? They paid £24 million for him and he was nothing more than decent for Everton.

Milner is the current young player of the year and is probably one of the few England players to return from the world cup with any plaudits.

We are the current contract owners of the player and they have loads of money and have proven in the past they will pay through the nose. Tough if they think they can get him on the cheap for them, if it was Man United or Chelsea coming in for him then maybe he would go for £23 million or whatever, but Man City have got history now of paying top dollar. So why not get what we can for him.

[john e]

Why should we take less than the money they paid for Lescott last summer? They paid £24 million for him and he was nothing more than decent for Everton.

Milner is the current young player of the year and is probably one of the few England players to return from the world cup with any plaudits.

We are the current contract owners of the player and they have loads of money and have proven in the past they will pay through the nose. Tough if they think they can get him on the cheap for them, if it was Man United or Chelsea coming in for him then maybe he would go for £23 million or whatever, but Man City have got history now of paying top dollar. So why not get what we can for him.

and what if they dont, and Milner puts in a transfer request ?,
 we think we can replace Milner with 25 mill with money to spare,

so can they, just buy someone else

to be honest, if i was in there shoes, and looking to spend big on players, i wouldnt be buying Milner at 25 mill, i can think of a whole host of players i would rather have

[TheSandman]

so we want 30 mill, and they value milner at 20-23 mill, which is still more than he's actualy worth , but hey ho.

We tell City no deal,
 Milner puts in a transfer request -

  1. we stick to our guns, and take a unhappy player into next season,
one which everybody knows doesnt want to be here, and then sell him for reletive peanuts come the end of the season after his disapointing form.

 2. give in take the money invest wisely in Ireland /Parker or such lilke, and rebuild

of coarse they could just offer 28-30 mill, we say thank you ,and all is well, but i doubt very much that this will happen

1. Most players don't work like that... If he has a good season bigger clubs like Man United and Chelsea will come calling... If he has a bad season he'll most likely lose his England place and Man City will lose interest. So I don't think the unhappy player angle is much of an issue. Barry didn't have that bad a season did he after his Liverpool move failed to materialise?

2. I'd take the money if I'm honest. I think even the mooted offer is more than he is worth. From what I understand we have money to spend and it is not totally dependent on sales. We probably have enough to bring in a right back and a reasonable striker. Selling Milner could fund two quality additions in midfield like the two you mention which will more than make up for his departure.

I think it will happen but not at £30million. It will be somewhere in the middle.

[PhilGibson]

Why should we take less than the money they paid for Lescott last summer? They paid £24 million for him and he was nothing more than decent for Everton.

Milner is the current young player of the year and is probably one of the few England players to return from the world cup with any plaudits.

We are the current contract owners of the player and they have loads of money and have proven in the past they will pay through the nose. Tough if they think they can get him on the cheap for them, if it was Man United or Chelsea coming in for him then maybe he would go for £23 million or whatever, but Man City have got history now of paying top dollar. So why not get what we can for him.

and what if they dont, and Milner puts in a transfer request ?,
 we think we can replace Milner with 25 mill with money to spare,

so can they, just buy someone else

to be honest, if i was in there shoes, and looking to spend big on players, i wouldnt be buying Milner at 25 mill, i can think of a whole host of players i would rather have

Au contraire... Milner is obviously one of the "A" list of targets for Man City, they bid for him very early in the summer and when the quota rules come into play, then what is better than having one of the up and coming England internationals in your squad. If it also weakens your rivals then all the better is probably how they look at it.

Villa have shown through the Gareth Barry saga that they will not be pushed around and are prepared to take a loss if they do not think a deal is right for the club, they are not stupid and will play the game with Man City just as Everton did last summer.

I just do not think it is a good idea to jump at any offer that comes in, and idle threats of them looking elsewhere will probably be just that. If and when he does go we will have got a good deal out of it. Mr Milner is currently the hottest English player on the market so expect to pay top dollar if you are Man City.

[pablopicasso_10]

i cant see them offering £23 million plus ireland and onouha, but if that fantasy was accurate, we should snap their hands off...

if it is just 23 million and add ons, then they can fuck right off...

My mate reckons its more like £15m + Ireland & onouha I'd take it to be honest. I'll be pissed if we don't get ireland

i would take that too... i rate both ireland and onouha very highly, and then with 15 mil, we wouldnt be rinsed on fees when we try and buy someone else either...

[kipeye]

Unless there is something other than money (he has already proved it is not his main motivation) I am stone certain he will not throw his toys out of the pram and ask to leave and he will continue to give his best to the club.
Nothing he has said or done previously tells me otherwise.

[john e]

anyone got any idea what the Man City forums are saying about the Milner transfer ?
 i would suspect that they are not jumping up and down in the street about the prospect of having Englands hottest available player about to join them,
 i would imagine there reaction is similar to that of Barry

[TheSandman]

From Blue Moon

So our pursuit of James Milner still appears to be on and all sorts of potential player plus cash deals are being rumoured.

At the same time we are seeing the expected talk about the real stars of this world cup being sort after and the usual transfer rumours.

Out of all of this the reported possible price of Sneijder who is being linked with our skint neighbours is 25million.

Just got me wondering are we really about to spend that sort of money on Milner when the likes of world class players like Sneijder/ would cost the same.

The only explanation is the home grown benefit of Milner as clubs look at the new regulations.

Any thoughts on this........

Yeah it is a bit puzzling! I thought about that with the Silva deal too, what was it £24 million... How can we get David Silva for £24 mill and be expected/want to pay 25-30 mill for Milner, it's beyond me. He's worth 15 mill tops!!! IMO

I personally don't want us to sign Milner. We have bought our midfielders for this window surely. And it is definitely a step forward with the signings made. I remember getting excited when we signed Emile Mpenza ( a forward i know ) But sorry Milner doesn't do it for me.
Lets Just Bring in Kolarov, also i'd personally prefer Richards over Zabby. Buy One more Forward in Torres/Suarez ? / Dzeko. Then i think we will be a force.

milner will bring something to city that sneijder can't, prem experience, he will want to play for us, won't see playing for us as a step down(which sneijder might), can play anywhere, does not need to settle in a new country, is the right side of 25, a full england international and possible england captain he will also compliment the signings we have made silva etc with his energy and never say die attitude, throw in a decent left and right foot, strong in the tackle and the ability to deliver a decent ball and i would say he would be more value for money than sneijder

they are totally different players so not fair to compair them really, milner will have a big impact on our club next season if he signs and will end up being a steal for me even at £30mill

i wouldn t mind wesley but not that yorkshire bull for £30m

[D.boy]

I wonder what the chances are of Man City going after Sneijder. I know he has been linked to Man U so there is the "screw you" appeal plus he is having a very good world cup and with money no object who knows. Would that divert them away from Milner were it to happen?

[TheSandman]

And some more of a different thread.

For a rubbish i can only cross or run around like a mad man milner i wouldn't even pay more than 12m pounds for him he is pants and he is a young gerrard without the pace,the technical ability and the imagination,yes he can strike a ball from time to time but i am sure i could do to if i trained as often as he does.

I would keep both richards and micah and give them wayne under the bridge and ireland + 12m pounds,we cannot assume that boateng and co are going to be able to cut it here and for all we know boby mancini could out of the job by december so richards and onuoha stay until then because your fortunes could soon change.

Ireland in a straight swap would be fair as i think they are pretty much at the same level. Both had one great season and the rest has been potential. But Milners great year was last season wheras Stevies was the season previous. Therefore We will pay through the arse for a player similar to one we already have.

On the basis of recent form Ireland + £5m would be fair. Ireland and Ned + £5M is MORE than fair. So the proposed Ireland and Ned + £15M for Milner is bollocks of the highest order and we should tell them to smoke monkey pole.

hire a head shrink and sort Stevie out....many levels better than Milner when he's on song. and it would be a lot cheaper.

They rate Ireland a lot more... I can't be bothered reading more as I need to go out.

[Dave]

Aston Cilla Views have said that Man City are about to ready one final bid. £23 + Ireland & Ohnura.

£23m + Ireland + Onuoha?

I really dont want Milner to leave but... DONE!!!

Agreed.  That is far too good to turn down.  I cant see an offer that good though !

Just to clarify, is this being reported anywhere anywhere other than Ian "what a dimwit" Robathan's blog and then repeated elsewhere?

If not, then I think it's safe to ignore it completely.

[phantom limb]

Seems like Man City fans don't want him and we don't want to sell him. So everyone's happy then?