IRDNING, AUSTRIA // James Milner yesterday gave a clear indication he intends to leave Aston Villa this summer. The 24-year-old midfielder, who was the subject of a £20million (Dh106m) bid from Manchester City earlier this week, refused to be drawn on his future, but significantly seemed to speak of his time at Villa in the past tense, as though he has mentally accepted his two-year stay at Villa Park is coming to an end.
"When I finished the season at Villa, I said we'd discuss [my future] after the World Cup," Milner said. "I have enjoyed my time at Villa - it's a great club to be at. We are moving in the right direction. We've had a good season, been unlucky in two cup competitions and had a higher points total than last year." Villa finished sixth in the Premier League, lost to Manchester United in the Carling Cup final, and were beaten by Chelsea in the semi-final of the FA Cup, but when Milner spoke of his desire being "to win trophies" it seemed apparent he was envisaging doing so elsewhere. "That's my No 1 aim for club and country," he said. "When I finish my career, I want to be able to go into my trophy room and see winner's medals and be as successful as I can possibly be. We came close twice with Villa."
Villa rejected City's bid outright, but the suspicion must be that they will cash in on Milner, just as they did with Gareth Barry when he followed the same route to Eastlands last season. Milner was speaking from England's pre-World Cup training camp in eastern Austria and, by strange coincidence, it looks like Barry's position is the one he is most likely to take in the England line-up. Fabio Capello, the England manager, has long admired Milner, but it was never clear where he saw him fitting into the side. With Barry struggling to recover from injury, though, England are short at the back of midfield, and Milner's versatility could make him the ideal player to step in.
It is only this season, following Barry's sale, that he has returned to the central midfield role in which he first emerged in England's youth set-up. "Last summer I spoke to [the Villa manager] Martin O'Neill, and we talked about the possibility of that. He'd watched me train. In training I don't really tend to play wide, I liked to play in the middle, get on the ball, and that's the way I trained, whether he'd seen me play in the middle for Leeds or Newcastle before. He said he thought I could do the job. I said I would love to play in there. It suits my game slightly better, I like to get involved more and I can use my energy to get up and down the pitch and help defensively."
Milner admits the holding role Barry occupies is not his natural position. "My attributes are more suited to going forward and creating," he said, "but wherever I am asked to play I will; I'll adapt." For now, he is focused simply on staying fit, carrying out the procedures that should help England acclimatise to the altitude they will face on the South African veldt, and ensuring that he is selected in Capello's final 23-man squad for the World Cup, which will be named on June 1. By then, he could well be a City player.
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