I was reading last night on teletext that newcastle supposedly put a bid in for miguel, £4M + Viana. The bid was rejected. If there not gonna accept that offer i highly doubt they would accept £7m for him.

Miguel has looked decent, better than what we have but nothing special. Wouldn't spend that on him when the likes of Reiziger are going for free.

Miguel actually convinced me today, an excellent performance from him, but we have almost certainly ended interest in him because Milner and Butt are practically a done deal ccording to NUFC.com (who are pretty reliable). This is as of 23:59...

quote:

The cheque book is out We understand that Newcastle United have now positively concluded contractual and transfer negotiations in respect of both James Milner of Leeds United and Nicky Butt of Manchester United. Milner will be the first to arrive, with a medical scheduled imminently and a quoted transfer fee ultimately rising to £5m - no part exchange, just a straight purchase. Butt is then expected to arrive next week having recovered from a knee injury sustained at Euro2004, with a transfer fee quoted somewhere above the £3m mark. The double purchase would seem to put an end to any newspaper claims of deals for either Miguel, Carrick or Beattie but the acquisition of right back cover remains an aim and may depend on receiving money for LuaLua from Pompey. Having turned down Leeds, it remains to be seen whether Gary Speed is still at the club for the start of the season - the expectation though is that he will leave, but hold out for a Premiership move, something that United are believed to be less than keen on.

If this is true then our already crowded midfield would have two new recruits, which could spell the end for Speed or Viana.

As Butt and Milner would be practically all our transfer kitty, The Times and the Guardian are both suggesting Dyer could play at RB

Portsmouth have upped their Lua Lua offer to 1.5M, hopefully that will go towards a new RB.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Jul-01-2004 at 01:37

James Milner has signed for Newcastle today on a 5-year deal worth £5M.



From nufc.co.uk

quote:

Leeds United midfielder James Milner has signed for Newcastle United this afternoon after passing his medical. The 18 year old has joined the Magpies in time for him to begin pre-season training along with the rest of the United squad on Monday. Details are expected to be finalised on Friday night after a fee was agreed with Leeds for the services of the highly regarded youngster. Milner stole the crown of Premiership's youngest scorer from Wayne Rooney when he netted against Sunderland aged just 16 years and 357 days. He will join fellow former Leeds players Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer at United and is a versatile player who operate on both the left and right of midfield.

U happy with the Milner buy? Think they paid too much for him..

___________________

Apparently the fee is about 3 - 3.5M with the rest depending on appearances etc.

Time will tell if we've paid over the odds, but I'm not too happy about this signing. Our priority positions (in no particular order) are: CB, RB, DM, LW (cover for Robert), ST (replacement for Shearer).

In Milner you could say we have found cover for Robert (who on his day is world class, but often isn't in the mood and is too inconsistent), but we already had Dyer and Ambrose who could play there if need be. He will give us cover across the midfield in case of another injury crisis. Like many Newcastle fans I'm also frustrated at us buying yet more 'young, British potential', only 2 of our regular 11 are not British or Irish.

Our midfield was already overcrowded and now with Milner and probably Butt arriving then at least one will have to leave, probably Speed for free or Viana if we can get a few million for him. Defence is a more urgent problem for me, I believe in Woodgate we have the best defender in the country but he has persistent injury problems . O'Brien and Bramble usually play very well alongside Woody, but together they're a circus act and cost us a lot of points last season. Hughes used to be a CB but has been converted to RB the last couple of seasons and frankly isn't good enough. Dyer might be worth a gamble there, he used to play there for Ipswich, made his England debut there and was a revelation playing there against Villa last season. However I have my doubts he'd accept that position because he has a bit of an attitude problem.

Milner is a grafter and a promising talent but he shouldn't start against Middlesbrough unless he has a good pre-season. I see him as a good youngster with potential but if you ignore his age he's an average player. Assuming Butt arrives as well, it is very difficult to decide on our best midfield, fans have discussed it at length with very different views.

I've changed my mind on Miguel after his Euro 2004 performance, I think he would be an excellent signing but if we get Butt for 3M then I'm not sure we'll afford him as our transfer budget was rumoured to be only 8M and these two signings would fill that. However we are now being linked with Beattie for 6M, but I don't believe that'll happen and don't want him here.

Agreed, definitely need more players from other countries apart for the UK. Experience from the other top European leagues, always provides that different style of play in the Premiership - which is usually is an advantage, but in most cases the player is out of sorts since he cannot properly adjust to life in the UK.

Milner is a terrific signing and I am completely overwhelmed with joy. Has the same amount of potential as Wayne Rooney. But with that said, so did Kieron Dyer

I actually think Milner starting against the smoggies would be a good idea. That spark is needed in the link between the strikers and the midfield and he has that unique creative flair to make something out of nothing. Technically very good on the ball and I beg to differ that he is just an average player despite his age.

I thought he played extremely well considering his age in the games that I saw for Leeds, however like Robert, I think he tends to get a little 'over-excited.' Anyone clarify that?

The problem with Milner is that we have Jenas and Ambrose who also need regular games to see their potential, and Viana who is looking like an increasing liability. How much 'potential' can we accommodate in one area of the pitch before they start to go stale? We know that Bobby isn't a big fan of squad rotation unless injuries hit, which is really trying my patience.

Jenas just had a really poor season but in the few games before his injury he was starting to find his 02/03 form again, he played well away at PSV when we were up against some tricky midfielders and helped stifle their attacks and keep the ball. He then followed that up with a good performance against Arsenal which helped us to a 0-0 draw with them. Sadly just when he was starting to blossom he was injured for the rest of the season. Although he went most of the season playing very poorly , he showed in those few games why he may be worth sticking with.

We have too many midfielders now.

Ambrose - Butt - Bowyer - Robert
Dyer - Jenas - Speed - Milner

You could draw up two midfields there, 8 players who all think they're good enough for the first team, and I haven't included Viana. I think it's likely either Viana or Speed will be going, although we might decide to send Viana out on loan for a season before abandoning all hope.

Milner is full of promise but so were Dyer, Jenas and Viana when we bought them, and so far none have reached their potential, with Jenas the only one still offering realistic hope. I'd much rather we'd spent the money for Milner on a defender because if Woodgate's injuries continue we have to look forward to another season of O'Brien and Bramble, probably the slowest central defensive pair in the league. Perhaps Taylor can be a saviour or we'll buy a new RB/move Dyer there and Hughes will play better in the centre, but I'm not convinced by any of that. We can't afford to forget about our defence for yet another summer, my patience with Bramble has finally run out, he and O'Brien are just too inconsistent and unreliable at the heart of defence for a side that wants to be in the top 4. The arrival of Butt would allow better protection than Speed did for the defence, and if Miguel signed things would look better defensively. I just hope we are still going for Miguel as Reiziger seems to be in discussions with Boro and Trabelsi in discussions with Arsenal.

Last edited by evil_bastard on Jul-03-2004 at 12:34

quote:

Originally posted by evil_bastard

lol..what an arrogant fooker!

WE NEED A DECENT DEFENCE, HELLOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

___________________
How can sound exist if there's no one there to hear it?

quote:

Originally posted by milanster lol..what an arrogant fooker!

It's a joke, this is the real article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foo...ted/3852503.stm