City’s £24m James Milner bid is ‘the final offer’
Friday 23rd July 2010, 11:30AM BST.
Villa were today warned that Manchester City will not budge beyond a second and final £24m offer for James Milner.
The club have already rejected the opening £20m bid for the 24-year-old stand-out star from last season’s campaign.
City are on tour in New York and assessing their response to Villa manager Martin O’Neill’s decision to go public on their pursuit of Milner.
But City are not prepared to meet the £30m valuation Villa were holding out for at the start of the summer and are prepared to wait it out in the knowledge that O’Neill needs funds for his own team building plans.
City boss Roberto Mancini is warning Villa his club are not going to be taken for a ride on over-priced signings any longer and said: “When Manchester City want to buy a player, other clubs ask much more than is normal.
“This is not good and it is not right. Inter Milan, for example, are asking a lot of money for striker Mario Balotelli, and we want to wait.
“We are interested in good players like Balotelli and Milner but we have time before the market closes in August. We have a lot of different choices.”
O’Neill’s surprise decision to reveal that Milner wanted to leave for City is being read as an attempt to move the transfer along, but it has upset the player who is now demanding talks with the manager next week.
The player is claiming that he has never asked to leave Villa and has refused to kick up a fuss about the deadlocked deal despite the fortunes on offer from City in personal terms.
But O’Neill is taking his lead from claims that Milner’s agent had told Villa chief executive Paul Faulkner that the player would sign a new deal.
The clash with Milner is an aggravation O’Neill could do without when he is trying to move on players including Luke Young, reported today to have requested staying behind from Villa’s trip to Ireland.
Celtic’s Aiden McGeady is a potential target and O’Neill said: “I think he has the ability to to play in the Premier League.”
UK Sport
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Take the money for Milner and buy Robbie Keane and Stephen Ireland and boost the squad numbers!
O’Neills comment of ‘I think McGeady is ready for the premier league’ doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence ‘THINK’…Come on Martin, we have Young and Downing, why spend a reported £10 million on a ‘I think he is ready’ player.
It is all heading for another season of ‘we nearly did this and that’
Oh well at least Emile is still there!!!!!!!
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Once again Randy Lerner is showing he is Doug Ellis with more public relations skill. Sad to see such a historic club and its fans being played for a mug by a former Arsenal fan from America.
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