In answer to the above question, of course not! But with our financial capability, would he be a useful addition? Of course! And therein lies what many perceive to be our undoubted strength, although along with a number of others, I believe that strength could soon turn into our weakness.
No reasonable person could argue with validity that City are crying out for Milner. Our midfield is without doubt the strongest area of our squad, with a plethora of stars vying for just a handful of players. Apologies for the following rather lengthy list, but it just highlights the vast number of players who could occupy those midfield positions: Shaun Wright-Phillips, Vladi Weiss, Pablo Zabaleta, Patrick Vieira, Michael Johnson, Yaya Touré, Nigel de Jong, Vincent Kompany, Gareth Barry, Stephen Ireland, Craig Bellamy, Aleksandar Kolarov, David Silva, Abdi Ibrahim and Craig Bellamy. Admittedly, some of those, most notably Bellamy and Ireland, are expected to leave in the near future but a large pool to choose from would still remain.
So why then, have we consistently been linked with Milner, whose move to City looks set to be finalised by the end of this week. The former Newcastle man is now an established England international, someone whose versatility Roberto Mancini admires. The tee-total player, who holds the record number of caps for England Under 21’s, is adept at playing anywhere across the middle, having started his career as a winger, but then moved into the centre last season to great effect. Moreover, in case of emergency, he can fill in at fullback.
His strengths are his tenacity, willingness to work for the team and his crossing ability. But with Mancini expected to favour the diamond formation this campaign, the last of those three qualities will not be in evidence as much. At the moment, the plan is to have de Jong holding the midfield, with Barry and Yaya Touré further forward, acting as box-to-box enforcers, and new signing David Silva operating at the tip of the diamond, with a licence to roam.
Milner would be expected to replace his former Aston Villa teammate Gareth Barry in the engine room, which links back with my earlier suggestions of how our vast squad may suffer from rotation. Someone like Barry, another regular international, will not be content with sitting on the bench, and only occasionally playing. Throughout our squad, there are other players in a similar position, players who would expect to walk into any other side, yet may find themselves marginalised at the Blues. So that just leaves you to vote in the following poll. Many thanks for reading and any comments beneath are, as ever, appreciated.
View From A Blue 
The only reason man city want milner is that if they dont buy him he will move to either man utd or chelsea.
I dont think he will be a regular for city, but if we get him and he doesnt go to our rivals then it will give us a advantage against them.
I mean they both said they was interested in him, but when we flexed our muscles they both knew they could not compete financially against us.
If i was in milners shoes i would be trying to sign for united, the reason being, some of the team are getting old and he would get more games.
but that a personal view, but i definately think its a good signing for us even if he doesnt play.
Villa fan in peace. Your getting a top top player in Milner. He has an amazing engine and never say die attitude, but you could do better for the money, much much better, and my personal opinion is that Ireland at his best is better than Milner at his best so the swap which seems likely is a fantastic bit of business for us. Obviously Ireland has been stop start for the last season and a bit but I think thats more down to Injury and lack of opportunity than anything else.
Good luck knocking the other Mancs down a peg or two this season!
well, city don’t need a milner. But, with home grown rule, surely they need likes of milner. When players are offered huge sums, they are ready to sit on bench. Sad that a player like bellamy is treated this bad ,despite being one of the top performers last season. So milner can see his future on bench.
he will get the odd game on a wednesday night in the league cup, they will probably make him captain for them games.
i dont think the signing is us getting a player, like is said before if we get milner it stops are rivals getting a decent player.
You have a skewed perception of soccer if you believe City are going to play with Yaya Toure, Gareth Barry, and Nigel De Jong all on the field at the same time. That is completely unreasonable to do that, and we would be left without any attack. Where the hell would Mancini put the wingers that he loves so much??? Mancini’s entire style is to attack down the flanks and whip in crosses to a big target forward and to have tevez working constantly to pick up the scraps. So with this philosophy why on Earth would he have Yaya Toure and Gareth Barry at outside mid.
conor, i don’t know how much attention you pay to mancini but he was the one who introduced a certain maicon to inter milan and he played the same narrow shape with 1 main play maker in his whole time at inter. boateng has shown he can get to the byline and whip a decent ball in and we know far more about kolarov’s attacking ability then his defensive. i think maybe it is you who has a ‘skewed perception’.
Why are we disowning Stephen Ireland? He gave his all when the club was in the doldrums financially and otherwise. C’mon give him a chance to show his abilities forget Milner, use what you have.
Please dont let us end up with a boring set of players who are in the club simply because we have the money now – money cannot make a TEAM!!!
Yes I do agreed. Pity Bel.His very committed with MC. Never say die attitude. Once being tackled,quickly back on his feet and take the ball.High spirit with full of determination. I’m quite doubtful where Mancini will put Milner. Isn’t that a waste buying him, though MC have a lot of money and it doesn’t mean that you buy all the players that you may think will pose threat to MC if others get him. Stop buying because those present players have shown they are in high spirit fighting for the silverware. Having buying Milner and put him on the bench is a big waste.
IM GUTTED BELLAMY IS GOING 😦 He covered more ground than anyone else in that side last year 😦