The Milner Novela... Final episode page 296

[carlos the third]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/06/man-city-stephen-ireland-james-milner

Stephen Ireland is emerging as the key figure in Manchester City's pursuit of James Milner after Aston Villa asked if he could form part of a player-plus-cash exchange.

Ireland is available from City as Roberto Mancini looks to trim an oversized squad and the Villa manager, Martin O'Neill, wants the midfielder to bring more creativity to his team as they prepare to lose their player of the year.

The talks have accelerated in the past few days and it is now a question of whether the clubs can finalise the financial part of the deal. There were strong indications today that there has been a significant breakthrough, with Milner withdrawn from Villa's squad for the friendly against Valencia.

Ireland, a product of the club's youth academy, spoke recently of wanting to stay at City and compete for his place in a side who could have £130m worth of new players by the end of the transfer window. But Mancini is not planning to include him in his 25-man squad for this season, having not been overly impressed by the former Republic of Ireland international's form last season. This has been made clear to Ireland and, with the player slowly coming round to the idea, there is a belief on both sides that there could be more movement over the weekend.

"We are close but we still have time," Mancini said. "We are speaking to Aston Villa and we are near. I am hopeful."

Until now, Villa had been asking for a straight fee of £30m, with City making one bid, of £18m plus a further £2m in add-ons, and informing Villa they were not prepared to go higher than £24m. The involvement of Ireland could see the clubs reach a compromise for a £27.5m package, taking into account the worth of a player who was voted City's player of the year two seasons ago.

[eastie]

Milner will earn shedloads of money  but he also has the opprtunity to play with better players and a much better chance of winning things, I can't really blame him for going.

Sadly it's a case of the richest clubs picking up the best players and it's nit the game I used to love.

[pmk1981]

yea but he wont play as many games as he has done at villa and he wont get much chance with england if he aint playing.  No matter how good he is, he wont get into that man city midfield.  Milner isnt as good on the wings as he is in the middle and there is no chance on this earth that he will get into that man city midfield.  so i say let the greedy northern prick go and rot !!!!

[PaulWinch again]

I hope that is true

[dave.woodhall]

yea but he wont play as many games as he has done at villa and he wont get much chance with england if he aint playing.  No matter how good he is, he wont get into that man city midfield.  Milner isnt as good on the wings as he is in the middle and there is no chance on this earth that he will get into that man city midfield.  so i say let the greedy northern prick go and rot !!!!

Have you ever changed jobs?

[Chris Jameson]

Maybe, just maybe the fact he won't be playing every week no matter what level of fitness might come as a relief to him?

[phantom limb]

Is it a better job though? Surely a footballer would want to play as much as possible. He'll be competing with the myriad of midfielders that City already have, and probably being shunted back out to the right wing when he does get to play. There's no way that they'll be able to keep all of those players happy.

He will be earning much more money than he ever would with us though, which makes it difficult to imagine that the money isn't a big factor in him wanting to leave.

Most players at the top end seem to handle being rested, and who says he'll not be a regular?

The other midfield players that they already have are very good, and they've just bought some more good ones. I can't see him being a regular unless some of them leave, and considering that they are all going to be on pretty decent wages it's going to be difficult for other teams to make them a similar offer. I guess much like the players that we'd like to get rid of, some of them may be reluctant to toddle off elsewhere if it means taking a pay cut.

I don't think I'm going to actually hate Milner for it as I came to terms that he was probably going to leave some time ago. But it would be a waste of talent if he goes there to not play regularly whereas he's probably one of the first names on the teamsheet for us.

[pmk1981]

yea but he wont play as many games as he has done at villa and he wont get much chance with england if he aint playing.  No matter how good he is, he wont get into that man city midfield.  Milner isnt as good on the wings as he is in the middle and there is no chance on this earth that he will get into that man city midfield.  so i say let the greedy northern prick go and rot !!!!

Have you ever changed jobs?

of course i have but it is different with us isnt it.... for example

in my last job i was earning 22.5k  and now i earn 27k

to me thats a shed load of money

but to a footballer who already earns 35k a WEEK no matter how much more money you give them it wont make a difference, they are wealthy no matter what,  so any more is just greed

[Chris Jameson]

As it's been established that the only reason Milner is leaving is for the money could somebody tell me definitively how much he earns now and how much he will earn at Manchester City?

[Legion]

A lot. A lot more.

[pmk1981]

what i worry about man city is that what will happen when they want to sell the players in a couple of years, no other teams will pay the wages.  such as barry, he is done for at man city,  but who is gonna pay him 110k a week?  he will have to take a 50% cut at least !!!!

[dave.woodhall]

yea but he wont play as many games as he has done at villa and he wont get much chance with england if he aint playing.  No matter how good he is, he wont get into that man city midfield.  Milner isnt as good on the wings as he is in the middle and there is no chance on this earth that he will get into that man city midfield.  so i say let the greedy northern prick go and rot !!!!

Have you ever changed jobs?

of course i have but it is different with us isnt it.... for example

in my last job i was earning 22.5k  and now i earn 27k

to me thats a shed load of money

but to a footballer who already earns 35k a WEEK no matter how much more money you give them it wont make a difference, they are wealthy no matter what,  so any more is just greed

No it isn't different for us. However much you earn you'll still like the idea of earning more, and who says Milner is only after a pay rise? Maybe he likes the idea of testing himself with a club that'll be challenging for the title more than finishing sixth again.

[Chris Jameson]

Footballer in moving to another club for more money shock. wonder which money grabbing wanker from the SPL we'll sign with the money we get?

He's a Yorkshireman, good on him I say.

[TimTheVillain]

I don't think it's just the money - he will definately have a better chance of winning trophies with them than us, and he is good enough to be a major part of the team, not just a squad player.

Move on, get over it - and to MON ffs, get Ireland and some more qulaity in - you haven't spent the money from the Gardner sale yet !

[pmk1981]

ok ok, we all know he is going.  and i do beleive that we will have a better team if we get the players we have been touted for