Sign me now or I’ll stay with Aston Villa: James Milner to Manchester City
Aston Villa midfielder James Milner on Tuesday issued a clear warning to his potential employers at Manchester City, asking them to complete the signing by Wednesday or else he would be extending his stay with his current club.
City and Milner have been part of a summer long transfer speculation, but Milner has now had enough. The speed of the transfer has been snail-paced which has exhausted Milner and he now no longer wants to be torn about his future and thus wants to get this deal done or not once and for all. City has therefore been given an ultimatum to come up with a transfer deal within the next 24 hours, or risk losing Milner altogether, at least for the current season. Milner’s frustration lies with his new potential employers rather than the current ones and he questions how desperately the Manchester club wants him.
At City’s end, Stephan Ireland has become the thorn in getting this deal done, as he has become part of the trade. Ireland has demanded instant compensation for termination of his contract at City. He still has four years left on his City contract and has asked for a 2 million pound pay off if he is to join Aston Villa in the swap deal. This has led Milner to claim that he is in an unfair position to be waiting for the deal to come by and is now fed up with all the speculations.
Milner may have made his final appearance for Aston Villa in the opener against West Ham United. Immediately after coming off the bench, Milner dominated in the defense and was able to score the 3rd and final goal of the game. The young midfielder received a standing ovation from the club’s supporters, as that match was considered to be his final for Villa. The 24-year old has thus given a deadline for things to be solved and if his demand is not met by that time, he will take the next flight to Austria and join Villa’s squad on Wednesday for their Europa League encounter.
Villa's management has given its care taker manager Kevin Macdonald the green light to select the midfielder for Europa league match. Macdonald voiced his opinion regarding the Milner issue, claiming that if the management were to stop him from playing due to his transfer issue; it would have been done in the premier league, since the league posed a bigger threat of injury than the Europa tie. "If James hasn't gone to Manchester City by the middle of this week, I'm sure he'll want to keep playing for us, because he just loves playing football, as you saw out there [against West Ham].", stated Macdonald.
Milner would also be happy with such a situation and has already taken his passport to his present club for travel preparations. If he does play for Villa against Rapid Vienna, he may well be unavailable for 17 of City’s matches in the Europa league, should they reach the final of the competition. Since joining Villa in 2008, Milner made 73 appearances for it and scored 11 important goals. The player won the PFA players Young player of the year award last season, owing to his impressive performances for the club. The player outmatched the likes of Wayne Rooney while contesting for this award. City would surely want to get the deal settled in time or face the prospect of losing this talented player.
Tags: