The January 2015 Transfer Rumour Thread

[PeterWithesShin]

Full Guardian article

Manchester City are running out of time to tie James Milner down to a new deal, with the two parties still a long way off reaching an agreement and the England international currently weighing up three proposals from clubs in Spain and Italy including a particularly attractive pre-contract offer that he would be free to sign this month.

While there is no guarantee that Milner will accept any of the opportunities in front of him at the moment – any pre-contract agreement with an overseas club would need to be signed before the end of the January window – the chances of the midfielder remaining at City are receding by the week. Arsenal and Liverpool remain the most likely destinations if Milner chooses to remain in the Premier League after his contract expires in the summer.

City have not yet given up hope of keeping Milner, who joined them from Aston Villa in a £26m deal during 2010. Club officials met with his representatives last week and they are not a million miles apart when it comes to an agreement on the figures put forward in a proposed contract.

For Milner, however, the financial package is not going to determine where and when he signs his next deal. If the former Leeds trainee leaves on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling at the end of the season, he will be well remunerated wherever he pitches up. The burning issue, in his eyes, is what happens on the pitch over the next few years. He turned 29 this month and wants to be playing every week.

Milner gets on well with Manuel Pellegrini, City’s manager, but there is no escaping the fact that he is frustrated with the amount of playing time that he has had under the Chilean and Roberto Mancini before that. Although Milner has featured more regularly this season – he has started 11 Premier League games compared to 12 in the whole of the previous campaign – he is aware that injuries to key players, including Samir Nasri, Yaya Touré and David Silva, have helped his cause at times. When everyone is fit, Milner knows he is not a mandatory pick and is more likely to find himself on the bench

Being substituted at half-time on Sunday, in the 2-0 home defeat against Arsenal, was a big disappointment and will have done nothing to allay concerns about how he is viewed at City, especially as Nasri was injured for that match and Touré away at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Pellegrini has spoken warmly about Milner’s attributes on plenty of occasions and often expressed his wish to hold onto the player. Yet there was bemusement among Milner’s camp when the City manager intimated earlier this month that an agreement between the club and player was imminent. “I hope that James will stay here and he will sign his contract in the next few days,” Pellegrini said following the 1-1 draw at Everton.

Despite regular and amicable talks with City, the bottom line is that Milner has never been close to signing . Furthermore, while it is likely that the two sides will get together again soon, there are no further discussions scheduled to take place. Perhaps most significantly, it is hard to see how City can satisfy Milner’s desire to be starting more matches.

While the prospect of playing abroad is appealing, and the formal offer that has been tabled in the past fortnight from a top European club has provided serious food for thought, Milner has more to take into consideration since becoming a father last year and it may well be that he arrives at the decision that the timing is not right to venture overseas.

All of which will encourage Arsenal and Liverpool – Chelsea tried to sign Milner when he joined City from Villa but are not believed to be interested this time round – that there is a golden opportunity to pick up an England international, still under 30, on a free transfer in less than six months’ time.

[Toronto Villa]

The one thing about Milner is if he is given the opportunity to play in the middle consistently he'll do well. He will be in terrific shape regardless that he will turn 30 next year. I'm way past him ever joining us but I can see him at Liverpool replacing Gerrard next season.

[Neil Hawkes]

I'd like to see him back and let Cleverly go.

[ozzjim]

Good move to go to Liverpool now for him.


Exactly the type we miss in the middle. Get forward and score from midfield...imagine that idea

[PaulWinch again]

I'd like to see him back and let Cleverly go.

Well clearly, but it's never going to happen.

[DrGonzo]

I'd like to see him back and let Cleverly go.

Well clearly, but it's never going to happen.

Yes, so let's not chew it over....again. 

[Phil from the upper holte]

Milner isn't coming back, get used to it, he's like a girlfriend on here that you just can't let go

[passitsideways]

Hope he doesn't go to Pool, but that's because I'm a bitter sod.

I think Arsenal would be a decent move for him, not sure he'd quite fit into their style of football even though he's got decent technique, but he and Ramsey make a good midfield combo on paper.

It doesn't matter though, once we get our imminent sugar daddy takeover and offer him both wages and the captaincy, he's definitely coming back here

[Salsa Party Animal]

 If I were Milner I would be looking for the move aboard to play with team like Atletico Madrid rather than Real Madrid or Barcelona.

[Chris Jameson]

Milner has been learning Spanish for the last two years. That's my ITK.

[Monty]

If I were Milner I would be looking for the move aboard to play with team like Atletico Madrid rather than Real Madrid or Barcelona.

I agree. Atleti are still contenders, and he would play more and fit in better there.

[tomd2103]

The one thing about Milner is if he is given the opportunity to play in the middle consistently he'll do well. He will be in terrific shape regardless that he will turn 30 next year. I'm way past him ever joining us but I can see him at Liverpool replacing Gerrard next season.

I think playing on the right of a midfield three would be his ideal position.

 Liverpool would be in pretty decent shape if they were to add him and Delph alongside Henderson and Sterling in their midfield.

[brontebilly]

If I were Milner I would be looking for the move aboard to play with team like Atletico Madrid rather than Real Madrid or Barcelona.

He could look but he isn't near good enough for either of those sides. Can't imagine Spanish clubs paying the kind of money he is looking for. The guardian report reads like it was written by his agent. Milner's lack of technical ability has caught him out at the highest level (City and International).

[paul_e]

If I were Milner I would be looking for the move aboard to play with team like Atletico Madrid rather than Real Madrid or Barcelona.

He could look but he isn't near good enough for either of those sides. Can't imagine Spanish clubs paying the kind of money he is looking for. The guardian report reads like it was written by his agent. Milner's lack of technical ability has caught him out at the highest level (City and International).

That'll be his lack of pace not his technical ability.  He was better central because pace is less important int he middle and his work rate, passing and drive showed how good he can be.  His technique is actually very good, he's got a great touch, strikes the ball clean and has the ability to make himself space in tight situations, that's all technical skills.  What he's critics focus on is inability to go past a player and then burn them for pace, which is why he's not suited to playing wde at the highest level and is why City and England have wasted him. I think he's got a simmilar skillset to Lampard, now can you imagine Lampard looking top class as a right winger?

[eamonn]

He has nowhere near Lampard's knack of ghosting into the box and scoring. Even if deployed centrally regularly I imagine most of his work would be in the middle third.