James Milner could yet be heading to Villa Park this summer after it emerged Villa remain firmly in the race to sign the Newcastle winger.
Martin O’Neill has already been engaged in a heated tug-of-war with Liverpool counterpart Rafa Benitez for the services of skipper Gareth Barry and the pair are also locked in a battle for the £7million-rated England under-21 star.
Reports that Liverpool have already won the race for the 22-year-old are wide of the mark with the Magpies midfielder yet to decide where his future lies.
What does seem certain is that Milner, who only signed a new four-year contract at St James’ Park last July, will be leaving Tyneside with Magpies manager Kevin Keegan keen to raise further funds to rebuild the side he inherited from Sam Allardyce.
Sources close to the player have admitted Milner is torn between the lure of Champions League football at Anfield – a factor which led to Barry expressing his desire to leave Villa Park – and the chance to link up with O’Neill, of whom he is known to be a huge admirer.
Milner enjoyed a successful season on loan in the Second City two years ago and O’Neill narrowly missed out on landing the wide player shortly after succeeding David O’Leary at the helm when a deal fell through at the 11th hour.
But the youngster, who will now cost nearly double the price he did then, has always remained on the Northern Irishman’s radar and Villa are expected to pull out all the stops to get their man once Barry’s seemingly inevitable departure is sealed.
Another possible stumbling block in any Milner move to Merseyside is the fact the Reds are keen to use Jermaine Pennant - offered to Villa as part of Liverpool’s first Barry bid – as a makeweight but reports today have suggested the former Blues winger will not be moving to the north east.
Keegan is likely to be more receptive to Villa’s offer of straight cash and O’Neill will be determined not to lose out to Benitez again with relations between the pair severely strained at present.
11 Comments
Certainly the best and most consistent right sided player we’ve ben linked to. Just what we need, I hope we pull out all the stops
There is absolutely no chance Newcastle will be selling Milner. Now lets see… Ashley wants to fill the club full of younger players… wso why would he seel one of the best young talents in the country. Joke article! Typical of the tabloids.
I think the joke may be on you Chris! Hope your still so confident when Milner joins Villa as you appear to be just another deluded Toon fan!!!
He wants to sell so he can get the cash you dim wit! Its coomon knowledge he’s on his way out of Necasltle. All the papers must be jokes if there all sayin it! Get used to it he’s leavin…. may not be to Villa but he’ll be gone come August.
Dear Gareth & your agent,
Before you confuse your career needs with your emotional and irrational desire to play with your mate Stevie in the odd Champions League game, you might like to consider this.
Hicks and Gillett hate each other. The club has their debt incurred acquiring the club. They have already refinanced and the club pays interest of £30m a year. Accounts of Kop Holdings Ltd (set up to run the club) show a loss of £32.3m in the last year, despite reaching the Champions League final. The duo had to draw £1.5m to cover their ‘personal expenses’, hardly something rich men need to do. The duo have still not obtained finance for the new stadium. If they have not got it now, they will not get it. They have no capital worth talking about, the world is already suffering the ‘credit crunch’ and is about to go into recession.
Villa is totally stable and improving.
If the Reds have to sell to buy, they will have to do it again next season. Does any other Champions League club have to do that? Eventually they will run out of players. Are Man U, Chelsea or Arsenal interested in Milner? How long before someone comes in for Torres or Stevie? Will the duo resist the desperate need to sell? Have you ever heard of the two full backs Benny has just bought?
Who will pay £15m for Crouch, with only 1 year on his contract? Is Benny that daft? Harry Rednapp cannot believe what he is asking?
If they get the money to buy you, who else will they be able to afford? Benny has just had to confirm publicly his job is safe. He will be the last to know he’s going.
The Reds are a season from emulating Leeds, maybe DIC will save them from administration and a 10 point loss. DIC will sack Benny and the new man might not want you, or Stevie, who is reaching an age when they will cash in. A good agent would never sell his client to a manager with such an uncertain future or such an unstable club. The Scousers have not got a hope of catching the 3 above them.
They must qualify for the Champions League.
You are idolised by the Villa fans, but you won’t be by the scousers, wrong accent.
At Villa you have established yourself as an England regular. How do you feel about being rotated and only playing every other game? Fabio, one of the more important people in your life has said, “It’s very important to see the players every week. It’s better for us if they play regularly (Crouch, Bridge and Defoe to note). It’s not important to be playing in the Champions League. A lot of players have done very well for the national team (you) without playing in the Champions League”. Source - Independent 10.6.08.
Steve (gis us a job) McClaren has just tried to raise his profile by saying you will benefit from Champions League football. Well he made only one good decision as England manager, he picked you who never played in it. But what does his view matter any more?
Benny has said they can play you at full back, wide and central midfield. He doesn’t know where he is going to play you. You need to play central midfield regularly. You play for the best manager in the country. Do you really want your next child born a scouser?! What does the wife say, or more importantly keep to herself?
Have you any idea of the fans response if you ever return to Villa in a red shirt? Don’t bother. Look Stevie in the eye, does he care for anyone other than himself and the Reds? Just accept you are bloody well off and you could screw it up, for what? Stevie will tell you about the importance of loyalty, if you need to be told, he must be laughing his head off.
Think Gareth, life isn’t always greener living in the red.
From someone who has contributed to your wage packet for the last 10 years.
Poaching a player is deemed illegal. Oh how I laughed when O’neill was crying about Liverpool sounding out Barry in the press. Yet you lot do it season after season after season with regard to wor James. He will, im glad to say, continue to play his football along the right touchline of St James’s Park. Whilst Barry will be a KOP favourite next season hahaha
Oh dear Dondatta13, it would appear that you have missed the point, no one from Villa has actually comeout and said they they are persuing Milner, whereas the Scosers have publicly stated they are after Barry on several occasions! Even to the extent to unsettle the player prior to two vital games at the end of last season, which utlimately made sure that villa missed out on automatic qualification to the UEFA cup as our star players head was else where. Liverpool really should hae the book thrown at them for this underhand tactic, very poor for such a great club as them, and with the history that they have. Perhaps typical of the owners they have and the culture that has bought in from the top to the bottom of the club.
Dondatta,
You are another deluded toon fan, with the typical north east, one club city attitude. Newcastle are only “a big club” (as all georgies self proclaim) because you have no other choice of who to support.
Tell me why would Milner and the rest of your rising or good players want to stay at a club that is constantly in turmoil, that has a manager appointed by emotion and pressure by the fans, and a chairman who doesn’t know whether he is a businessman or a fan (he will ruin the club). Don’t mistake my comments as a villa fan who does not like Newcastle because that is not the case.
However to put things in perspective villa are a fluent and established team, with the stability at board level and the experience and ability at managerial and playing staff level to approach and content with the higher echelon of the premier league.
That’s why Milner would be interested in villa over the toon.
Milner can’t even get a game ahead of Geremi so I can’t see Keegan wanting to keep him.
“He will, im glad to say, continue to play his football along the right touchline of St James’s Park.”
And the season after he will be in the championship
Dondatta
You’ve failed to address a few key points:
Liverpool made public their bid for Barry, Villa have not made their bid for Milner public, this is just tabloid talk. Also, given the way Freddy Shepherd pulled out of the deal at the 11th hour last time around, a fact acknowledged by Milner himself, I find it hard to believe that you are trying to take the high ground.
Enjoy the bottom half of the table next season.