You’ll guess from the headline that we’re not as impressed with the talents of Aston Villa’s James Milner as some appear to be but you shouldn’t read that as us thinking he’s not a good player. He is, and has proved it over the last couple seasons for his club. He’s also very versatile, able to play right across the midfield and, on occasion, in either full back position.
But in a transfer market where David Villa can be bought for £34 million and Barcelona are rumoured to want Cesc Fabregas for upwards of 45 million Euros, is he really two thirds the player Villa is? Or half a Fabregas? We don’t think so. Not even close. Not yet.
We’re baffled, then, by the £20m bid from Manchester City. We understand Aston Villa’s decision to reject it. They know Manchester City have an almost bottomless pit of wealth, thanks to their mega-rich benefactors, and they will try to squeeze as much out of them as they can – assuming Milner decides to leave, of course.
Chelsea are rumoured to be preparing to enter the bidding as well, backed by their own mega-rich benefactor, Roman Abramovic. With that sort of interest you can see the price for Milner approaching the £30m mark easily.
Even though English players come at a premium that figure is staggering for a player who just isn’t what you would term world class as yet.
Milner’s career started at Leeds United. He made his debut in 2002 at just at 16, then the youngest to appear in the Premiership. He then became the youngest to score in the Premiership until Everton’s James Vaughan broke that record. When the Yorkshire side went into decline and financial trouble, Milner was sold to Newcastle, where’d he’d make over 100 appearances.
A loan spell to Aston Villa – Milner didn’t enjoy life under Graeme Souness – looked like it would result in a transfer but the move failed and he returned to Newcastle, now managed by Glenn Roeder. In 2008 he handed in a written transfer request and was finally signed by Aston Villa for £12m.
That figure makes today’s asking price seem reasonable, perhaps. But we thought back then it was a lot of money.
However, Milner has flourished under Martin O’Neill, justifying that transfer fee to some extent. Whether on the left wing or in central midfield, Milner’s style of play makes him a great team player who provides valuable and frequent assists. Already an established international under-21 player, he has now progressed to the full England team and looks set to play an important role at this year’s World Cup in South Africa for Fabio Capello. Especially if Gareth Barry, his former team mate at Villa, fails to win his battle for fitness.
It sounds like we just made the case for a £20m plus transfer fee, doesn’t it. But we haven’t. We acknowledge that Milner is a good, good player. For us, though, a player commanding a fee of such size should be a proven international and appeared regularly in European competition. Milner doesn’t fit that bill – yet.
Youth also plays a part in setting your value and at 24 Milner is the right age, with his best years just around the corner. We assume that’s what Manchester City and Chelsea are prepared to gamble on – that he will get better over the next three or four seasons and become that proven international in the process. Hell of a gamble at that price though.
What this does prove is that we were right when we said that Manchester City’s failure to get into the Champions League would mean they’d have to set their sights lower than they would have liked in the transfer market. As good as Milner may become, we don’t think he was the man they had in mind when they were winning the race for the last Champions League spot. City would have been looking to the European mainland, to Italy, Spain and Germany.
Instead, they’re having to settle for a homegrown talent that hasn’t reached his potential yet. We hate to say we told you so, but…
Chelsea’s alleged interest is a little stranger. They do have the clout and the money to buy whoever they like. Champions of England, recent Champions League finalists, Double winners, packed with talent already – they should be a club any player in Europe with ambitions to win things would want to join. Yet here they are, looking to get into a bidding war for a player not yet proven outside of the Premiership.
A gamble for both clubs but one that could pay off. We do know this though – both clubs will be hoping to get him to sign before the World Cup kicks off. Because if he goes to South Africa and has the tournament of his life you can bet Martin O’Neill will be rejecting bids of £30m in July. And should that happen, we’ll quite happily accept that it’s no longer a gamble.
Sky have announced the games they’ve chosen to be shown on Sky Sports for the first half of the season. The first batch of 115 live games next season sees, unsurprisingly, Tottenham Hotspur resume last season’s rivalry with Manchester City on Saturday 14th August, live on Sky Sports 2 and Sky Sports HD2.
v Everton
