An interesting comment on Spurs Community in relation to the current Mexican Stand Off in the Premiership at the moment. Three very ambitious sides are in what can only be described as a ‘holding pattern’ and one man will be the catalyst to get things moving. And that is the multi-million dollar man himself, James Milner.
Milner’s transfer is by no means inevitable, but my prediction is that this will be a mini saga rather than an epic one. Martin O’Neil has to play his one good card carefully here or he might not lose his shirt, but more importantly his seat at the table.
Manchester City are, if what we hear, are effectively being held to ransom. I’ve made my opinions on Milner known. He’s overpriced beyond imagination, but it’s not really my concern. If Asda or Tescos start demanding £50 for a four pack of Carlsberg Export, then you’ll hear me whine, because it’s my money.
The allure of a ready to go, Premiership proven player is just too much of a tease to prevent those kind and goodly folk who run top flight football clubs from digging deeper than they really ought to, even for players who are merely, ‘alright’. Downing, Lescott, or Bentley anyone? The list goes on and on.
But in this instance an interesting dynamic has occurred. Suddenly we have three teams thrown together like home owners in a property chain.
Villa have Milner to sell.
Spurs want to offload Keane.
Manchester City want to buy Milner.
City want to offload Bellamy.
Villa supposedly still want Robbie Keane or perhaps even Craig Bellamy.
But Villa have no money without selling Milner.
There is also talk of Ashley Young and Stephen Ireland in these increasingly complex deals but I could see no reason why O’Neil would possibly entertain losing him for all the tea in china. He has a superb record there and his departure would tear the already upset guts out of the club. Ireland is a good player, but not in the same price bracket (for me) as the rest of these names.
A final scenario of Milner to City, Bellamy to Spurs and Keane to Villa Park would by my estimation be a good result for all concerned. Well, if all concerned only consisted of Harry Redknapp and Martin O’Neil, that is.
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Well, i feel Aston Villa shouldn’t be bullied by the riches of Manchester city. Last year United sold Ronaldo for 80 million. Everyone didn’t expect united to buy any big stars due to debt. But united did buy Valencia and he turned to be a good winger. United did loose out on Premiership, but just by one point, that too cos of injuries in defence. United scored more goals even with the loss of tevez and ronaldo. On the other hand Real Madrid , despite all their spending ended up without any trophy. It clearly shows, money can’t buy trophies just as they believe. Chelsea had a good team under Ranieri even before abrahamovic came. Chelsea had a good platform at the top already to exploit the lures of trophies with their money. City was just a mediocre team which suddenly got lot of money and showing the big team mentality out of nowhere.Let them spend, if they want a player, they should pay what the selling team wish.Just because it’s city, there is no written rule that teams should sell them. Aston villa has nothing to loose.Milner is their contracted player, they have every right to ask for best price possible. I believe, even if milner goes, there are enough players out there to improve Aston villa. They are consistently finishing in top 6 for 3 seasons. So they will be there.
RE: Nithin R S,
Good comments mate. Why should Villa bend over for Mancini?? I would love to bump into him one time! Please….His attitude stinks…Who do City think they are? This Club, let’s not forget, were nothing more than a yo-yo side until a few yrs ago and now they think they can bully Villa into selling one of our most prized assets.
As for the comments on this site about Milner not being worth the money and being an average player, U’ll eat those words someday soon. Milner will become the best midfielder in the premier Lge if he gets a run in whatever team he plays for. I’ve no doubt about that whatsoever!!! I don’t believe Milner will struggle in a Man City team full of Primadonnas. He’s the hardest working player in the Prem Lge. Mancini knows that and he wants Milner bad. Just b’cos he says he won’t be held to ransom dosen’t mean he won’t pay the money for Jimmy. I will be sad to see Jimmy leave but if he dosen’t want to stay and play for us then get rid of him sooner rather than later. We have to buy a few players to improve our chances for nxt yr. We can still get a champs Lge spot nxt season. Why not!!
Martin O’Neill cannot afford to wait 2 long on this sale. I wanna see Robbie Keane at AVFC b4 the start of the season. We need a top striker also and an attacking central midfielder. We should keep Reo-Coker as a holding player b’cos Petrov will have to be rested in games throughout the yr. With the sale of Luke Young, Sidwell and a coup[le more players we will have a decent transfer kitty to buy 3 top players. 3 top players will give us the chance to challenge for the coveted top4 spot nxt season….Milner has to be sold, full stop. He didn’t come out and say he was staying at Villa. He left this speculation to fester in Villa fans minds and now we’re expected to believe he never said he wanted out??? I believe Martin O’Neill. He’s been the constant at Villa for over 4yrs now. Miln er had his hd turned and that shows no respect for our club. He has showed no respect to the fans since the speculation began….He kn ows that!!!
Nithin R and astonmichaelvilla. Both good articles and what appears to be sound sense. I’m a Man City fan of over 50 years so did see the good times of the 60’s and 70’s but take the point that we’ve been a yo yo team for the past 20 years. However, don’t kid me on that had a rich arab taken over your respective clubs and gone on a mad shopping spree that you wouldn’t think it was Christmas as most city fans do. We know that it could all backfire and we’d be the laughing stock of football BUT what you fail to understand is that most City fans have a really black sense of humour and I suppose half expect this to happen anyway. We’re just living and enjoying the moment. From being many fans second favourite team we’ve become a really disliked if not yet hated team. I can’t really understand that as most City fans are just the same as they’ve always been.
I’m really excited about the coming season, and you would be too in my position. Don’t get all bitter and twisted with envy and hate just enjoy your own club and all it does. Martin O’Neill by the way, is one of the very best managers around and it wasn’t too long ago that I wanted him as the City manager. Count your blessings you still have him there and he is looking out for Villa in every deal he does, as with Gareth Barry and now with James Milner. All the best to all you lads and lasses.