James Milner should go so that Villa can grow

The protracted transfer saga of James Milner to Manchester City has more than a hint of déjà vu about it.

This time last year Villa fans were in a similar position with Gareth Barry and his move to City, as he too expressed his desire to leave and there were similar mumblings of discontent that the teams brightest star wanted out, but the team progressed in his absence reaching a league cup final and the FA Cup semis.

Now, according to manager Martin O’Neill, Milner has also seen the bright money lit lights of City and has decided it’s his time to earn pots full of cash, but would his departure be a curse or a blessing?

City’s deeper than deep pockets mean that they seemingly have an infinite amount of money to spend and are happy to pay well over the odds.

Without being disrespectful to Milner, they are clearly willing to do so in this instance as well.

The fee that is being reportedly involved is between £24m and £30m and that’s an astronomical amount of money for someone who is only just beginning to establish themselves as an international, especially considering that a player of world class calibre such as David Villa recently moved to Barcelona for approximately £33m (€40m.)

With chairman Randy Lerner admitting the transfer kitty is a little lighter than in previous seasons, the money will be extremely useful in helping build a squad that can maintain pace with the aspirations of money-mad City and Champions League fuelled Spurs, as otherwise Villa are in danger of getting left behind and sinking into mid-table obscurity.

“There’s money to be spent on the team but I say that carefully within the context of knowing that the summer brings a very dynamic environment of players coming and going and rethinking existing contracts. I’m not saying simply: ‘Here’s some new money – go and spend it’” said Lerner to the Daily Mail.

He added “I think there’s a sell to buy policy in nearly every organisation on the planet. I think it’s good business.”

Add to this the fact that Milner allegedly wants to leave the delights of Aston behind and it makes for a compelling case to allow him to go, an idea which O’Neill seems content with.

“The state of affairs is really straightforward,” O’Neill told The Guardian.

“James and his agent came to see us before the World Cup and intimated they would like to go. If that is the case then Manchester City made the offer, which we told them about. There is a difference of valuation at this moment between the buying club and the selling club. That may well be resolved and if that is the case then absolutely fine.”

“I think James’s agent has told our chief executive he wouldn’t be signing a new contract,” O’Neill continued.

“Obviously that puts a different slant on things, like everything else. Although I haven’t spoken to James since that day, he has played in the World Cup and the rest really is pretty well straightforward. If a fee is agreed, at the end of the day, the player can leave. Manchester City have put a valuation on the player. It doesn’t match our valuation but we will see. I am probably sure if that is the state of affairs, particularly if the player is keen to go, I am sure it will get resolved.”

Villa’s small band of hard-working players have performed magnificently over the past few seasons, consistently finishing in the top six and qualifying for Europe, but their performance has tended to wane towards the end of the season as their small squad appeared to struggled under the workload.

The money then from Milner’s sale could prove to be invaluable as Villa look to build a squad that can cope with the strain of challenging for success domestically and in Europe, especially considering the chairman’s admittance of a lack of funds.

Whilst Milner progressed considerbaly during his time at Villa Park, he was by no means dragging the team over the finish line.

With rising star Fabian Delph waiting in the wings to fulfill his potential and Milner’s shoes and with the generous transfer fee burning a hole in their pocket, Villa will be looking to build on their recent success.

Milner expressed his thoughts in the press on Friday through an anonymous friend that his desire to leave has been exaggerated and that he has been painted as the villain of the piece, but irrelevant of his depiction in the press, he should leave if he wants to, as having a discontented player in the squad can’t be good for the harmony of the team.

As former Aston Villa winger Tony Morley aptly told the BBC “is he unhappy? We don’t know but if you can get £25m for an unhappy player that might be worth considering.”

Posted By Dan Mobbs - Friday July 23, 2010.
Tags: Aston Villa, James Milner