On his way: James Milner looks set to complete his £26m move
to Manchester City
James Milner was dramatically left out of Aston Villa's
squad on Friday night as his £26million transfer to Manchester City
neared completion.
The England midfielder was scheduled to be part of Martin
O'Neill's side that drew 0-0 with Valencia in a friendly at Villa
Park but was withdrawn at the 11th hour as City closed in on a deal
to take their summer spending through the £100m barrier.
O’Neill admitted: ‘We didn’t play James primarily because there
could be something happening in terms of the transfer. There is the
possibility of something happening over the next few days. There
has been renewed contact between the clubs.’
City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak is due to fly into Manchester
on Saturday morning to seal the signings of Milner and Inter
Milan's £24m-rated teenager Mario Balotelli.
He intends to sign Milner first in a deal worth £26m, with Villa
receiving £18m in cash and City midfielder Stephen Ireland, who is
valued at £8m. Villa had demanded £30m but believe Ireland could
prove a bargain.
City and Inter are haggling over a fee for Balotelli, and
manager Roberto Mancini said yesterday: 'Milner is like Balotelli.
We are close. We are speaking. Probably Milner is closer than
Balotelli.
'We want to buy Balotelli at the right price. We are close, but
we have time. When we want to buy a player the price is not normal,
but we want to improve quickly and to do this we must often buy
players that will cost more than normal.'
Mancini insisted he has no fears over Balotelli's reputation as
a difficult character. Asked whether he expected to find Balotelli
troublesome, Mancini joked that the teenager's disruptive streak is
nothing on City players Craig Bellamy and Carlos Tevez.
He said: 'I work with Bellamy and Tevez so it's easy (to work
with Balotelli).' Mancini hinted Bellamy, a long-term Tottenham
target, and Roque Santa Cruz will be allowed to leave before the
end of the transfer window. The City manager will also seek a
meeting with record signing Robinho. He said: 'We have to pick 25
players and we have 31. Some will have to stay off the list.'
City have already signed David Silva (£24m from Valencia), Yaya
Toure (£28m from Barcelona), Aleksandar Kolarov (£16m from Lazio)
and Jerome Boateng (£11m from Hamburg) this summer.
Bellamy and Tevez were at the forefront of City's open training
session at Eastlands on Friday (below).