Milner To Depart?
James Milner has officially handed in a transfer request. The club has officially announced that it is not happy about it but will only let him leave at their valuation (good for them). I think Aston Villa have pursued him in an incorrect manner and they had the cheek to moan about Liverpool with Barry. Unsettle the player before making an offer so he hands in a request? Well if he thinks Villa are going places I think hes kidding himself.
We have debated this alot but I honestly thought Milner had one of his better games last night which kind of caught me off guard to his request today. However we have said many a time he can’t cross a ball and quite often has no end product. Yes a one hundred percenter but is that enough? In Jonas it appears we have one who has an end product.
Maybe its for the best…
August 27th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I really don’t think he is in KK’s plans lang term regardless of him bigging him up. KK likes wide men to be able to ping crosses in and be productive and who could argue with him? He has too long enthusiastically ran the ball into nothingness. He was in the side the whole time we were producing nothing last term. Good luck to him, I think Villa is the place for him as Liverpool would be wasting money on him if they think he will improve their first 11.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:10 am
Let pool waste their money? I dont care
I must admit KK has always bigged players up and always will. Why knock down the value of your own players? Makes good business sense. KK would never knock a player as he knows that he may just need him? Take Ameobi’s current situation. I do however disagree with selling him not to replace? If we can get a viable good option in then I would sell. Every club should have contingency plans… good businesses have them. Our scouts should have some sort of database of whats out there and available. Is Shaun Wright Phillips any different to Milner? Im not so sure? Is Aaron Lennon? Same answer again. If we have to look abroad then we are taking a risk. But early signs of a risk on Jonas are proving it is possible. In fact the quality of Jonas has perhaps showed things up for what they really are. Duff sucks tbh still so nothing has changed there. Zogbia still seems wasteful and selfish but he still seems to do more than Milner for me even though he generate us agro. The patter seems to be that Milner handed in this request on the 20th so that would suggest our guys should have been looking into other possibilities – we hope. It seems that this is all to do with gaining a contract increase. Yes Milners attitude is better than most players BUT it boils down again to can we get in an option which will actually be better. The facts are that we did better without Milner in our team late last season than when he was in it? Yes Geremi is piss poor most of the game but his quality when not taking corners but at picking out a certain Michael Owen which generates goals. We just dont get that from Milner. Amazingly he had one of his best games in a toon top the other night but it wasnt out wide was it?
August 28th, 2008 at 6:12 am
well i like jimmy.. he has always given 100% for the toon, and he has been messed around a bit in the 4 years or so he’s been here… loaned to villa, almost sold on deadline day.. etc etc.. yes i agree he isn’t a finishsed product yet, and i was hoping he would get to learn this season, from KK and maybe even pick up some tips from Jonas.. but saying that.. i firmly believe that if he genuinely wants to leave, then we must sell him, at our price, if not, he better be the true proffesional that he is, and play for us this season, while maintaining his 100% for us. We cannot afford to lose players, and not replace them, i agree with you Toon, that there isnt much british/local talent that we could replace him with..ie Lennon and SWP. Either way if he goes, we must get our price for him, if we dont then he must stay, and i wouldnt be that disappointed.. in other words lads, i’m sitting on the fence here
August 28th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
At the end of the day the club hold all the cards tbh. Its up to them. Either way we have him for the season or not. Each way plays out as long as KK gets to spend the money brought in. Turan would be a decent replacement. The club hold his contract which has 3 years on it. Hes requested it doesnt mean they have to just let him go. It HAS to be the right price and by standards of today thats about £11-12 million based on Downings valuation who tbh can cross a ball better and scores more goals. I actually think apart from Coventry that Milner had started the season poorly which now has been cleared up as to why. THe simple fact is every player has his price. Worst case scenario Duff or Geremi on the right side of midfield. Possibly splash the cash on Moutinho through the middle. Who knows but I think there are viable options out there even if non british. What about Valencia at Wigan? Decent option. What about shelving replacing now we have Jonas and Zogbia working and put the money in to get Huntelaar? There are many options but who knows what this board is up to these days. My main worry out of all this which people arent thinking about is not Milner… but is KK happy or will he walk away? That would be a disaster and quite possibly the final straw as far as I am concerned. BTW many people say he wants to be on par with Taylor? Well Taylor has just been put on par with Milner of £30-35k per week. The lad is wanting the same as waste of space players like Barton and Smith…
August 28th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Valid point about Smith and Barton but the trouble is if we want to get a good rigid and respected wage structure it has to start somewhere. Some players are gonna dislike it but I guess you can’t just give increases all over to put people on par as things will never get sorted out. Difficult for sure but you do have to ask one question regarding Milner. Do you think he will ever contribute to goalscoring as much as players such as Solano or Gillespie did? Its doubtful in my mind it really is. Valencia is a decent shout by the way I think. I know this is a pretty tough situation given the timing though and I too hope things are decided with unity at the management level. We are without doubt in extremely deep shit without Keegan.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
In other words Ashley, do as he says.. lol