SPECULATION : Milner to City/Utd/Chelsea/Spurs

[hobbo]

I'd love Milner to stay but the fact is that he's a £30m player and that's a luxury that we cannot afford. £30m to us will buy three very good players.

I'd sell for £30m+ and use the money to buy an international striker and 2 international central midfielders (one attacking, one more more defensive/holding). With the money we get for sidwell, etc. we could buy a top quality RB.

People will say that selling shows a lack of ambition but if somebody's daft enough to pay £30m+ for a lad (albeit with a great future) who's only got two years of his contract left, it's too big an opportunity to ignore.

[duvillain]

If his head has been turned and he wants out, then we need 20 Mil and two good players. Definatly Stephen Ireland as a replacement, and one of their 19 forwards What about Santa Cruz. Neither player got much air time last season. Or is The Cruz injury prone. Dont know much about him.

But get a forward anyway.

[CBGB]

Me, I'd much rather we kept Milner and bought a decent striker.

Milner makes us tick.

We've got decent defenders, Delph will be coming back, Delfonso should be kicking on... but we need to shift Heskey and bring in someone to score goals.

But it's the price of being a decent team that our best players get cherry-picked, so we'll see...

[Villarocker]

I'd agree with that POB. Milner in a United top I could take; and I'd enjoy watching him progress as a player. At a club like Citeh though, meh.

As for this link with Chelsea, I know we're starting to add rumour+rumour and that can be dangerous but IF it is true that Mourinho is going to Réal (& it appears to be) and IF it is also true that he has sounded out Lampard to follow him there (alledged by Guillem Balague on SS) then Chelsea's relatively recent interest in James Milner all of a sudden makes more sense and becomes very understandable.

Agree with you here BOF!

Dont wanna sell to City and aid their top 4 challenge but wouldnt mind selling to either of the other two as they are beyond our reach, for the forseeable future anyway!

Thanks for the poll. It helps give a clearer picture of what we really think and at the moment it seems 2/3 of fans would take 30+ mill for Jimmy, which at least gives the club a bit of insight into our feelings on the matter. He is a fantastic player and I would hate to see him leave, but the good of the club is most important and if money is tight then we need to look at our options.

[Silent_Bob]

This is one of the things I dislike the most about the modern game, it seems rarer and rarer to find a player who stays with a team for a long time

To be fair, we don't keep players in our line up for years for sentimental reasons either. They are out of the team the moment there is someone better around. I don't think it's just because of the players themselves, it's because of the Bosman verdict and now these new rules where they can terminate their contracts. A four year contract means that after just two seasons, a player that has improved must either renew the contract, or be sold. Unless the club is taking a very expensive gamble.

I think it's something we just have to accept. Entire teams come and go within a few years.

[Jez]

Aston Villa to discuss James Milner's future before World Cup

• Meeting scheduled for turn of the month

• Manchester City expected to increase £20m offer

The Guardian, Saturday 22 May 2010

Article history

James Milner will meet Aston Villa officials before the World Cup to discuss his future at the club. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images

Aston Villa will hold preliminary talks with James Milner and his agent before the World Cup to establish whether the England international wants to stay with the club. Villa intend to use the meeting to outline their plans as they seek to persuade the midfielder to agree a new contract and resist a lucrative move to Manchester City. Milner is keen to meet Villa to discuss broader issues, including the club's direction and their ability to bring in players that would enable them to compete with the Premier League's leading teams, before making a decision.

With free time at a premium because of Milner's commitments with England, the meeting will take place on either 31 May or 1 June, after the friendlies against Mexico and Japan and before Fabio Capello's squad fly to South Africa, on 2 June, for the World Cup finals. Paul Faulkner, Villa's chief executive, will meet Milner and his agent, although it is unclear whether Randy Lerner, the club's chairman, and Martin O'Neill, the manager, will attend.

Although Villa have spoken of their intention to offer Milner a contract to replace his existing deal, which has two years to run, the club have yet to put any figures in front of the player. Whether that changes when the parties get together remains to be seen, with Villa understood to view the meeting as an opportunity to gauge Milner's mood rather than a chance to get him to put pen to paper. It appears that at best Villa hope to get a verbal agreement from Milner.

That scenario looks highly unlikely, however, with Milner expected to decide he has a better chance of fulfilling his ambitions by following his former Villa team-mate Gareth Barry to Eastlands. City have yet to make a second bid, after their opening offer of £20m was rejected on Wednesday, but their determination to sign Milner is such that it is a matter of when and not if they will test Villa's resistance again.

Villa are determined to take a firm stance over the issue, as they did when Liverpool unsuccessfully pursued Barry two years ago, but the combination of City's financial muscle and Milner's head being turned means that they could be facing a losing battle this time.

Clicky

[Denis_B]

If he wants out then there is nothing anyone can do except try and get as much as we possibly can for him.

We are Aston Villa and have been so since 1874 - we will still be here long after James Milner finishes playing so we must trust the Club management to do the best for Aston Villa.

Edited due to stupidity that must be catching

[Philosopher]

I would only sell at 35 million or more, or Richards and Ireland plus 20 million. Otherwise he stays. If If Man U were interested then I would Anderson and 20 million as I see Anderson as a very young talented player who potentially is better than Milner. He had a bad season but he never really got a run in the team and seems to have lost a little confidence. The guy has everything thing though, speed, strength, he can run with the ball, tackle hard and is a fine passer.

[Troglodyte]

We are Aston Villa and have been so since 1872

1874.

/pedant

[ryanvilla_1994]

if city offer 30 million or more, we have to accept. as much as i want milner to stay its 30 million. as good as milner is, he isnt a world class player and 30 million is a lot of money and we could easily replace or better milner with the money. anyway i hope milner makes the right decision when it comes to staying or going

[TrentVilla]

if city offer 30 million or more, we have to accept. as much as i want milner to stay its 30 million. as good as milner is, he isnt a world class player and 30 million is a lot of money and we could easily replace or better milner with the money. anyway i hope milner makes the right decision when it comes to staying or going

Could we?

We could easily replace Milner with the money.

Come on then, name me 3 players we could 'easily' get who are better than Milner and who would realistically join a club with our wage structure and no CL football.

Good luck.

Tick tock, tick tock

[Jez]

if city offer 30 million or more, we have to accept. as much as i want milner to stay its 30 million. as good as milner is, he isnt a world class player and 30 million is a lot of money and we could easily replace or better milner with the money. anyway i hope milner makes the right decision when it comes to staying or going

Could we?

We could easily replace Milner with the money.

Come on then, name me 3 players we could 'easily' get who are better than Milner and who would realistically join a club with our wage structure and no CL football.

Good luck.

Tick tock, tick tock

Exactly.

Also with MON's seeming unwillingness to look to europe, out search pool is even smaller.

Laughable people are so keen to get rid.

Take Milner out of our team and we wouldn't have been where we finished, simple as that.

So i am also keen to see how he is easily replaced.

[ChrisVillan]

If City offer £30m, we should offer him to United and Chelsea for £25m.

[ml1dch]

if city offer 30 million or more, we have to accept. as much as i want milner to stay its 30 million. as good as milner is, he isnt a world class player and 30 million is a lot of money and we could easily replace or better milner with the money. anyway i hope milner makes the right decision when it comes to staying or going

Could we?

We could easily replace Milner with the money.

Come on then, name me 3 players we could 'easily' get who are better than Milner and who would realistically join a club with our wage structure and no CL football.

Good luck.

Tick tock, tick tock

Presumably we would have to find the next Milner. Might be someone at a club around us who is being used in the wrong way or someone at a club below us where the manager isn't realising his potential or a player being played out of position who can fit in and adapt, just as O'Neill has done with Milner.

Such a player might not exist, but if we are to replace him then that's how I presume it will be done.

[MMFy]

if city offer 30 million or more, we have to accept. as much as i want milner to stay its 30 million. as good as milner is, he isnt a world class player and 30 million is a lot of money and we could easily replace or better milner with the money. anyway i hope milner makes the right decision when it comes to staying or going

Could we?

We could easily replace Milner with the money.

Come on then, name me 3 players we could 'easily' get who are better than Milner and who would realistically join a club with our wage structure and no CL football.

Good luck.

Tick tock, tick tock

THIS.

I've said it plenty of times over the last few weeks. We cannot simply replace Milner with players of the same quality/skill for less money.

We need players that are already at Milner's quality/skill and unfortunately those players cost >£25m.

If there was a player available for £10m that could do the job, do people not think Citeh/Chelsea would be moving for them and saving themselves £20m?

It's only basic logic.

[LoughboroughLion]

if city offer 30 million or more, we have to accept. as much as i want milner to stay its 30 million. as good as milner is, he isnt a world class player and 30 million is a lot of money and we could easily replace or better milner with the money. anyway i hope milner makes the right decision when it comes to staying or going

Could we?

We could easily replace Milner with the money.

Come on then, name me 3 players we could 'easily' get who are better than Milner and who would realistically join a club with our wage structure and no CL football.

Good luck.

Tick tock, tick tock

I agree with you there, however, remember what everyone was thinking before and after Gareth Barry's sale, it was similar to this, but what does MON go and do, replaces him (not immediately, but still replaces him) with Milner. Life goes on, and IMHO if we can get 35m and Ireland then we should do it. Ireland is a good player and i think we can look to improve via a good goal-scoring striker and an attacking creative midfielder.

[Denis_B]

if city offer 30 million or more, we have to accept. as much as i want milner to stay its 30 million. as good as milner is, he isnt a world class player and 30 million is a lot of money and we could easily replace or better milner with the money. anyway i hope milner makes the right decision when it comes to staying or going

Could we?

We could easily replace Milner with the money.

Come on then, name me 3 players we could 'easily' get who are better than Milner and who would realistically join a club with our wage structure and no CL football.

Good luck.

Tick tock, tick tock

THIS.

I've said it plenty of times over the last few weeks. We cannot simply replace Milner with players of the same quality/skill for less money.

We need players that are already at Milner's quality/skill and unfortunately those players cost >£25m.

If there was a player available for £10m that could do the job, do people not think Citeh/Chelsea would be moving for them and saving themselves £20m?

It's only basic logic.

But on the other hand could we be better as a TEAM with a not so good player as Jimmy but improving the quality elsewhere in the side with the money?

(Cue Jez and his you can't trust MON mantra)

[chappy]

i really hope MON is present at this meeting with milner, if he isn't i think that jimmy may well be on his way.

[MMFy]

i really hope MON is present at this meeting with milner, if he isn't i think that jimmy may well be on his way.

If the meeting is real, which there is no evidence to support it actually is, MON will be there.

Rafael Benitez he is not.

[Hanky]

Milner isn't irreplaceable. The guy is a very good player but I don't think he is as good as the media is making out to be honest. A lot thought he was very average a season ago and he has only really justified his price tag this season. At the same time he would be a big loss for us but £30 million+ is a good deal for us if he wanted to leave.