Aston Villa Central

It’s been reasonably well reported that Paul Faulkner, and presumably Martin O’Neill, possibly Randy Lerner, will sit down with James Milner after England’s friendlies against Mexico and Japan this month to seek a verbal agreement from James that he will commit to a new contract on his return from the World Cup. The details of that contract will obviously be influenced by what happens in South Africa, but the management team will be looking to sell their vision for Aston Villa’s future to gain a pledge in principal from Milner on his future.

From everything I’ve read and heard about James Milner, I’m not convinced that the main factor yanking his chain in life is money. I firmly believe that if the vision the club shows Milner matches his ambitions in football terms, not necessary paycheck terms, he’ll agree that his future lies with Aston Villa.

If it were me, I’d be telling James that he can be our Wesley Sneijder. I’m serious. If I had to pick the team today, all players fit and available, I’d pick something very close to this:-

Don’t pay too much attention to the back line, whether Luke Young plays right back or Collins pushes everyone one place to left by playing centre half, we’re solid at the back. The main difference between this and what we normally do is the addition of Reo-Coker in place of a second striker. With exceptionally fortuitous timing, Chris Nee at Twofootedtackle has written a fine piece extolling the virtues of having NRC in the side, so that saves me some time and space. Cheers Chris.

While I agree with Chris that Petrov is “clever”, I still think that he’s the weakest link in the line up above and I’d be telling Milner that’s the position I want to recruit someone new for. Heck, if Reo-Coker could tighten up his passing, I’d have two of him there if it were possible. It’s that sort of solid, defensive platform a couple of Reo-Coker type players could provide that would allow Milner to act as the central fulcrum unleashing the full attacking benefits that the Young / Agbonlahor / Downing trident could provide.

And James would mop up behind of course. Goals and assists a go-go for Milner. Shots from distance, clever through balls, tapping in rebounds, sending in free kicks and crosses, ghosting in at the far post.

I’d also be telling James that I recognise the one position that I must find someone new for, more than anywhere else, is up front. Gabby is in my plans, he’ll score goals and can play on the right if I want something that can switch to a 4-4-2 when required. Heskey is not in my plans and I’m willing to sacrifice Carew if need be to get the right man. Delfouneso is very much in my plans and though just 3 recognised strikers in a first team squad might be spreading it a bit think, Ash can play there in a pinch and Weimann might well be a perfectly adequate 4th choice striker in a system that only employs one.

I’d also ask Ash and Downing to swap wings a little less frequently and spend more time on the “wrong side”, cutting inside and having a dig at goal themselves more often. If we have the benefit of the stronger defensive platform in the middle and the wingers cutting into the middle, that will allow the full backs greater freedom to get forward and that’s where the true width will come from. If that were the case, I probably would prefer to see Luke Young at right back on reflection.

My feeling is that if James is offered a contract at Villa that reflects his importance to the team and place him at the very heart of things on the pitch – build the team around him if you like – with the assurance of real ambition (which he must already know exists at Villa Park) it beats the money and bling that City can offer. At least to James Milner. That’s my feeling at least, only James Milner knows what James Milner wants though and it’s entirely possibly that I’ve got the guy all wrong.

Now, whether there’s a price point that the club would rather take the money and let James go, I don’t know. My view is it’s not so much about what he’s worth, it’s what we could really replace him with. £25m or £30m, for instance, may be an awful lot of money, but if we could simply go buy a ready made replacement with that money, why wouldn’t City go buy that player instead?

I think we need James to stay and he will lead us to the next level. Maybe the Wesley Sneijder role is the wrong way of describing it… how about the James Milner role?

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