Milner Time Called
Aston Villa have officially completed the signing of James Milner believed to be over £10 million. He took a medical this morning and departs being MON’s 7th signing of the summer.
This means the board decided to draw a line on wages and make a stand at this point after Milner threw in a transfer request at not getting his contract negotiated upwards…
UPDATE:
KK has stated in his press conference it was his decision to sell Milner. The funds will be made available to add to the fund he already had pencilled for the purchases of 3-4 other bodies into the squad. He also stated that he is looking to tie up some deals in the next few days.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
It comes as no shock today and good timing as far as I am concerned. It would have been shocking for it to take place on the deadline day and then find a replacement. Least we have a few days to get sorted still thats not a great deal of time and hopefully we have some targets already in mind with promising responses.
August 29th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I’m hoping upon hope that this was more expected than meets the eye and that some re-enforcements are nearly with us. Timing isn’t perfect but I still support the sale for 10m though as someone mentioned 2 goals and 2 assists last season? If true that’s clearly a pretty poor stat for an attacking player no matter how good he looks doing it. I know he’s only young but so is a whole long line of players who perform better in that department. Loads of hype surrounding him at the minute; it’s weird.
August 30th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I think 2 ways to sum it and clearly show its a great deal. I havent fully checked but I imagine the points that KK gained last season with Milner in the team is 1 and that was against Bolton? That proves a). we can live without him. 2nd he came as a prospect playing in the England U21’s and expected to advance… for £3.5 million… He leaves exactly the same for a fee in the region of £10-12 million. I think this is great business and Wes I totally agree. There could be a purposeful face at the club which KK is actually part of. The friendly guy who is one of the lads, hand around them agree with them keep them happy but the board take the badness away from KK and the show on face a possible seperate front but behind scenes are very much together. KK has always said the right things and then gone the opposite way. He knows not to devalue a player and get the most from them while they still play but also in fee. Seriously the papers/media aint got a clue but there is very much a plan. Its just frustrating as a fan when you dont know it
I still say though - great bit of business. We could do with some more faces in though. I wonder if there is a chance of Thierry Henry or even David Beckham appearing in a toon top? Odd one but it could be a temporary big name in which would sell shirts. No one knows… Jus thought id throw that into the mix. The Henry one is a one ive heard for a while from mouths in the south.
August 31st, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Can’t resist but join in with that.
It’s half pie in the sky and half makes sense that Beckam thought. He is still MASSIVE from a marketing point of view especially in the east as his presence at the olympics has shown. So. business point of view it works given the right deal. Footballing he would provide more assists in a few games than Milner would all season. He still has a sweet right foot and pace was never his strength. Of course not for the future but so many times you see the right sort of older player make a big difference at the right times. Not sure on Henry, class act obviously but not sure if I could see it.
August 31st, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Great price for the lad. £12m? I’d have priced him closer to £6-8m from what I’ve seen of him. We’ve said it a million times - hard worker, gives his all, but no end product. His crossing is abysmal.
Then, when you look at what Guitterez will probably cost (£2-4m?) it’s obvious that there are much better players out there for less. I can see that £12m being spent, plus a little more maybe, on 3-4 players, each better than Milner, who will add a huge amount to the squad. The transfer team will have a list of targets and will be working through them as we speak.
I genuinely think our squad at the end of this window will be stronger than the one we started it with.
September 1st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Our squad tbh is not far off being stronger than last season. Players that have gone out never played as they were always injured… Hardly a miss!