The Milner Novela... Final episode page 296

[Risso]

"Here, have this player who is at least as good as the one you're giving us, and £22m as well."

Nice work if true.  In an ordinary world, I'd take Ireland in a straight swap to be honest.

[john e]

i wont believe it untill its happened,
anywhere between 15-22 mill plus Ireland is just to good to be true.

[citizenDJ]

£22m + Ireland would be afuckingmazing.

It would be utterly, utterly insane.

But quite brilliant.

[TimTheVillain]

I dunno, if you think about it, maybe we've been playing hardball and demanding 30m cash, not interested in players, and City have come back with an offer involving Ireland, then there's been a bit of to-ing and fro-ing over the valuation of Ireland and, as a result, the size of the cash element, with us playing the "we didn't want a player thrown in, anyway" card .....

Nah, you're right. Hard to believe.

Apparently that was exactly it, we just wanted a straight £30m. Ireland is supposedly being valued at £8m in the deal.

That is a honey of a deal if we can get it / have got it.

[pauliewalnuts]

£22m plus Stephen Ireland would put O'Neill firmly back in the "transfer genius" camp for me.

To be fair, I thought he handled the Barry situation superbly, and if he got that sort of deal for Milner, he's done even better. Way better.

[JJ-AV]

"Here, have this player who is at least as good as the one you're giving us, and £22m as well."

Nice work if true.  In an ordinary world, I'd take Ireland in a straight swap to be honest.

Same.

[Kevin Dawson]

I'll give Milner a lift to Citeh if he wants - anything to get it sorted quickly...£20 million + Ireland would be excellent business.

[Clampy]

If that is the deal, then a few pats on the back are deserved all round i think. It sounds like we've done exactly what Everton did over Lescot, not budged and come out of it pretty well.

[Drummond]

£22m plus Stephen Ireland would put O'Neill firmly back in the "transfer genius" camp for me.

To be fair, I thought he handled the Barry situation superbly, and if he got that sort of deal for Milner, he's done even better. Way better.

£34m and Stephen Ireland for James Milner and Gareth Barry.

That's cracking business. Or, alternatively (and potentially);

Aiden McGeady, Stephen Ireland, Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne, Stephen Warnock and James Collins for James Milner and Gareth Barry.

[BannedUserIAT]

Having a look on Blue Moon was interesting. Click

General concensus is that Ireland is a one-season wonder.
They also think that Milner will be brought in to match the physicality and mobility of the team that they're assembling. Except Barry that is:

Also, with regards to his speed, he's no greyhound but he has greater mobility than De Jong, Barry and possibly Kompany.

Stephen Hawking on a beach has more mobility than Gareth Barry at the moment.

It's even worse than that. He was so slow running through the cones at the open day yesterday, I actually felt embarrassed for him.

Ricky Holden would have left him for dead.

....and at least Ricky could cross a fooking ball.

I honestly can't see Barry getting much playing time in the prem or Europa this season. I think he'll play in the domestic cup games if he's lucky.

Most interesting for me was that there was barely any outrage at the money that is supposedly changing hands. It seems that they really care very little in regard to paying over the top (way way WAY over the top) for players.

[eastie]

Lerner and Faulkner are doing the negotiating, not o neill- I believe the price will be around £16m plus Ireland which is excellent business.

O neill has already stated he has had no part in negotiations with city, so let's give the credit to randy and Faulkner.

[richard moore]

"Here, have this player who is at least as good as the one you're giving us, and £22m as well."

Nice work if true.  In an ordinary world, I'd take Ireland in a straight swap to be honest.

Same.

Make that three. Long thought Milner is a decent player - witness that he can just about get into the England team - but hugely over-rated. He'll see the error of his ways the end of next season just as Barry will this...

[PaulWinch again]

£22m plus Stephen Ireland would put O'Neill firmly back in the "transfer genius" camp for me.

Agreed, that would be a fantastic deal. I just hope it's true.

[BannedUserIAT]

Lerner and Faulkner are doing the negotiating, not o neill- I believe the price will be around £16m plus Ireland which is excellent business.

O neill has already stated he has had no part in negotiations with city, so let's give the credit to randy and Faulkner.

There was a quote on the Blue Moon site I mentioned above that said £16m plus £2m in add-ons plus Ireland.

What the add-ons are, I couldn't tell you.

[Percy McCarthy]

£22m plus Stephen Ireland would put O'Neill firmly back in the "transfer genius" camp for me.

To be fair, I thought he handled the Barry situation superbly, and if he got that sort of deal for Milner, he's done even better. Way better.

£34m and Stephen Ireland for James Milner and Gareth Barry.

That's cracking business. Or, alternatively (and potentially);

Aiden McGeady, Stephen Ireland, Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne, Stephen Warnock and James Collins for James Milner and Gareth Barry.

Nice list. How about:

McGeady, Ireland, Keane, Dunne, Warnock, Collins and Carew for Baros, Barry and Milner.