Milner Completes Move to Man City

Manchester City today announced the signing of James Milner from Aston Villa for a fee in the region of £26m. It is a move that has been the subject of much media speculation since the start of the World Cup, and has only intensified since Martin O’Neill recently announced he was to step down as manager of Villa. The failure of the West Midlands club to hold onto one of their star players is thought to have been one of the main reasons behind O’Neill’s departure.

Milner’s arrival is the latest in a line of high-profile signings for the Manchester club. They had already signed Mario Balotelli, Jerome Boateng, David Silva, Yaya Toure and Aleksandar Kolarov. Milner’s signing takes their spending this summer to nearly £130 million, and with all of their new players on astronomical wages, there seems to be no bottom to their cavernous pockets.

It is hard to see where Milner will fit into Mancini’s starting XI with such a wealth of talent at his disposal. Against Tottenham last weekend, he started with Yaya Toure, De Jong, Barry and Wright Philips in midfield. Barry and Toure looked to be a solid pairing in the centre of midfield. Wright Philips gave them width and pace on the right, with David Silva dropping back and doing the same on the left flank. De Jong could be the one to miss out on a starting berth, but Milner can, and has, played in all of those positions. He is nothing if not versatile.

Milner was at his most dangerous for Villa when he played in central midfield, but it will be a very tough task to push out the established Barry or their new star signing Yaya Toure. His best chance for a regular starting place is probably on the right, where he tended to play for England at the World Cup. He is still a good player in that position, but he’s certainly not a winger. If City do decide to deploy him there, they will lack the pace and outlet of a real wide man unless they play Adam Johnson on the left. Whichever choice Mancini eventually makes, he will be left with players on the bench who don’t feel that they should be there. Their squad is getting to the point where they have two or more world-class or near world-class players for every position. Mancini is going to have to work wonders if he is to keep everybody happy, even with the aid of their owners’ endless salary coffers.

Another advantage that Milner has over some of his Man City contemporaries is that he satisfies one of the eight positions for home-grown players that must be filled in the new 25-man squad ruling. This new squad cap has already pushed out Craig Bellamy, and there will surely be more casualties as Mancini tries to crop his inflated squad to meet the regulations. Other Premier League clubs will certainly be keeping an eye out for a bargain before the August transfer window comes to a close. The real question is will that be an end to Manchester City’s summer spending?

Do you think Man City will be buying anyone else this summer? If so - who?