Transfer rumours: Milner and an English future... Or £88m on South American talent

A number of today's papers are reporting that City have overtaken United as the most likely summer destination for James Milner - if he is to leave Villa at all. The Guardian's Stuart James says two factors hold the key to this move: one, the future of Martin O'Neill; and two, City's attempt to get into the Champions League. It is thought that both conditions would have to be right (i.e. O'Neill walks and City finish fourth) for City to land the £24m-rated midfielder.

If this deal were to come off, City would be continuing the policy, signalled by the arrival of Adam Johnson, of buying the best of young British talent. Milner has already established himself, of course, and Capello has suggested that he sees him as the future of English international football. To think that City could quite comfortably field an English eleven including the following players next season would put us in the surprising position of being one of the most-English clubs in the Premier League - not to mention meeting the on-off proposals of home-grown quotas that are often mooted by Uefa:

Hart; Richards, Onuoha, Lescott, Bridge; Milner, M. Johnson, Barry, A. Johnson; Nimely, Ball.

And as Michael Johnson will probably be on the treatment table for some of it, there is the option to bring Milner inside and put Wright-Phillips into the fray. It is an appealing idea (although perhaps the strikeforce aren't ready yet!).

Milner would help plug the creativity void in the middle of our midfield without drastically affecting the work-rate or defensive responsibilities. He is one of the rare box-to-box midfielders that can be very effective for a team. Villa obviously wouldn't want to let him go, but if funds are going to be tightened, as reported, then perhaps they may welcome the chance to reinvest £24m.

Mike Rigg's comments about Cardozo and Di Maria also resurfaced today, leading some sections of the media to quote that a whopping £88m deal was being lined up for the two of them - in accordance with their minimum fee release clauses. I know journalists feel under pressure to add a figure to their stories, but the suggestion that it will take the whole £88m is ridiculous.

Minimum fee release clauses are intended to be prohibitive, to protect the club's interest. It is logical - if the minimum fee release clauses represented anything near the player's actual value then the club would have no say at all, as rival clubs would only be too happy to pay it. So, as anyone familiar with Championship/Football Manager would attest, even though a Real Madrid squad player may have a minimum fee release clause of £130m, it doesn't mean that that is what you will have to pay to acquire the player. Therefore, I would be unhappy if we paid anything near a third of what the papers have been quoting for these two. As far as them both being "prospects", it is hard to think of Cardozo - at 26 - improving too much more as his career progresses.