Villa new-boy Stephen Ireland today warned James Milner he made a mistake joining Manchester City.

The midfielder also slammed Eastlands boss Roberto Mancini, claiming the Italian isolates players and he felt unwanted.

Ireland is preparing to make his debut at Newcastle tomorrow after joining as part of Milner’s £26m move to City on Wednesday.

But after Milner declared he wants to win the Premier League with City, Ireland insisted the former Villa hero will find it tough to make an impact.

He said: “He must think the grass is greener on the other side but he’ll get a shook soon because it’s definitely not that way. I’ve really landed on my feet here.

“James Milner sees the attraction of going to City, he obviously sees the players going there and he wants to be one of those so-called superstars and nail down his place in the England team, become more established and play 90 minutes for England.

“I can understand why he has gone there but I can tell him that I’m very happy to leave there and come here. Some people have used the phrase that I’ve been forced out, I couldn’t be happier to be forced to come here.”

And Ireland, who turns 24 tomorrow, revealed he didn’t speak to Mancini before his exit and said he felt unwanted at Eastlands.

“I did feel unwanted at Manchester City,” he said. “It was like banging my head up against a concrete wall, it didn’t matter what I did in training I was not going to get anywhere.

Mancini doesn’t really build relationships with players. I think that’s the way he is. He has everybody a bit on edge.” City have spent over £100m with the capture of Milner and Ireland reckons the Italian will struggle to keep the high-profile squad happy.

He said: “There are a lot of high-profile players there now and I’m not sure they are going to be happy with just a place in the squad but that’s the way they want to do things. They want two players in each position and it’ll be down to them to see how they work that.”

Meanwhile, Villa are without  the injured Carlos Cuellar, Gabby Agbonlahor, Steve Sidwell and James Collins for the trip to Newcastle.