Lancet Fluke
Well-Known Member
Bojinov The Bull said:
In which case the major consensus is just that we don't want him then because those figures are ludicrously unrealistic given the player's reputation. age and how much he cost Villa.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
I really don't rate Milner!
- Thread starter Bojinov The Bull
- Start date
In which case the major consensus is just that we don't want him then because those figures are ludicrously unrealistic given the player's reputation. age and how much he cost Villa.
Braggster
Well-Known Member
kiiiki said:Braggster said:Yes and no...O'Neill never spends outside the UK.
Picking up 3 good players from British clubs for £30 million is very hard, you really need £45million to do that...especially if they are English, and he does tend to buy English players.
If you give £30m to Wenger, Moyes or Fergie I would agree but I don't rate O'Neill very highly in the market.
Good point actually, i read somewhere he has only bought 3 players outside UK ever....either he doesnt have any knowledge outside uk or he just like players from this island. He wont get anywhere with only buying british with his budget.
I think it is a mix of
1) conservatism
2) lack of knowledge
3) style of football.
O'neill likes to play a certain style that is, without sounding too snobbish, 'typically british'. So while he does have some excellent footballers in his team - young and milner in particular - his teams are tight knit, well drilled, and deploy an easily understandable gameplan exploiting speed, strength and heading ability very effectively.
He feels that players from the British isles are best placed to execute such a plan, which is true IMO. Just as Wenger has felt the need to buy from abroad to create highly technical teams - again, a logical choice if that is your preferred strategy.
So for me O'neill's problems in the market are intrinsically linked to his (rather limited but effective to a certain point) approach to the game.
It's difficult to assess Milner as a consequence of that, because for City he would be playing in a team with a very different approach. Will be interesting to see how he gets on in the world cup as england do occasionally play a passing game these days...
Milner is overrated, he wont improve us, we will be pushing better players out the door for peanuts this summer. Everton have the best midfielders, Cahill, Pienaar, Arteta and Fellaini. I would prefer us to try for Pienaar myself.