Yes, yes, I know we're all much more interested in who's coming in. But while we're turning from sky blue to deep purple holding our collective breath over Sanchez, a story has surfaced about a cheeky bid from Villa for their ex-stud James Milner. Well I'd be stunned if City let him go. I believe Milner has a big role to play over the next few years. I agree he didn't have a great season last year but there's so much to like about him - bustling, aggressive, willing to take people on and, especially late on, glimpses of what we paid for in the first place and a few very promising displays alongside De Jong in the double pivot where distribution is as important as positional sense and tackling ability, something sorely lacking in his ex-Villa teammate Gareth Barry (maybe Villa would like to bid 15 million pounds for him instead, ha!!)
Yes Milner spat his dummy out a couple of times when substituted (most notably in the dreadful display at Anfield) but he's hardly, ahem, alone in that at City and Mancini doesn't appear to be one to hold a grudge. I'm not surprised Villa would like their man back for half what they got for him. Good luck with that one.