OK, it’s finally a done deal, full details to follow, but it’s official, Stephen Ireland is an Aston Villa player, James Milner is a Man City player.
Going the other way, Stephen Ireland has also completed his transfer from City to Villa. Ireland spent eight years at City, having come through the ranks as a teenager. He made 142 starts in that time, scoring 23 goals. His best season in a City shirt came in 2008/09, when he was named as
In Part I I used a little slight of hand when comparing detailed playing stats for Milner and Ireland by putting two different seasons against each other. I was open about that and it was done with the expressed purpose of illustrating that at their best, they are extremely comparable players. But will we be getting Stephen Ireland at his best?
That remains to be seen, there’s obviously no guarantees, but for what it’s worth, here are their key
I’ve been doing a little research. I worked these same stats a while ago in the Luke Young vs Carlos Cuellar at right back comparison, so you should be familiar. However, this time I didn’t isolate games played in the same position – they’re both versatile midfielders – and I’m not comparing data from the same season.
It seems to me that we’re all optimistic about getting the Stephen Ireland from two years ago. For whatever reason, and
It would appear James Milner’s 24 hour ultimatum has forced some action and it’s currently being reported that he is heading to Manchester for a medical. Presumably he’ll pass Stephen Ireland on the way. Not sure they’ll wave to each other.
As it stands, it sounds like our side of the bargain will be Stephen Ireland plus £16m. What will happen to that money is another question, but I wouldn’t assume it will all go to fund new
I’m tempted to apologise for the cynicism as it’s generally not my style… but no, forget it, the timing is little better than MON’s resignation.
I appreciate that information will be coming from the club in due course, but pumping out silly bits of PR guff as if nothing has happened is a little insulting. I’m sure it’s not as bad as I’m portraying in this cartoon, but it certainly feels a little like that.
However, my jadedness to one side,