MAN CITY PURSUE JAMES MILNER
ABOVE: Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill wants to swap James Milner for two Man City players plus £15m
7th July 2010 By Tim Gray
MARTIN O’Neill is ready to strike a £30m deal with Manchester City for want-away James Milner.
The Villa boss accepts he is fighting a losing battle to keep Milner at Villa Park – but is ready to play hardball with City.
O’Neill is ready to do business and smash the record transfer sale at Villa, but only if City are willing to throw in Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha into the deal.
Villa value Milner at £30m and will want £15m cash plus the two City players who are surplus to requirements for Roberto Mancini.
City have tried to use the duo as part of a deal to tempt Everton to part with Mikel Arteta, but Villa boss O’Neill wants them to switch to Villa Park.
Onuoha’s future is virtually non-existent now that City have signed German international Jerome Boateng, while Villa are desperate to sign a right-back with Luke Young and Habib Beye both set to leave the club.
But O’Neill faces stiff competition from Sunderland to land former England Under-21 star Onuoha.
While the Villa boss has already rejected two bids in excess of £20m for Milner, he realises he is swimming against the tide.
Milner appears to have set his heart on a move to City, having being promised a contract which would more than double his £45,000-a-week deal at Villa Park.
But Ireland, who is valued at £9m, would be a welcome addition to the Villa midfield, which is crying out for an attacking influence from central areas.
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Just more journo talk, but what do people think of this proposed deal? I don't get why we would still be pursuing Milner now that we have Barry, Yaya and De Jong in those roles and he certianly shouldn't be worth £30m or £15m plus 2 players to us. Players like Ireland, like him or not, are worth more than £9m simply because of the Europa league rules about having players in your squad who you have trained yourself.
I'd rather see us pursue some top level full backs instead of spending that kinda money on a player who's only had 1 strong year from an offensive point of view.