Aston Villa Football Club News

• Nickname:The Villains
• Founded:1874
• Manager:Alex McLeish

• Ground:Villa Park
• Capacity:42,584

Villa clinch Milner coup

29 Aug 2008 - 12:37:35

Click To Enlarge

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has made Newcastle United midfielder James Milner his eighth capture of the summer.

The 22-year-old, who scored three times in 33 games during a loan spell at Villa Park in the 2005-06 campaign, has penned a four-year deal with O'Neill's side.

The Villa boss had hinted on Thursday evening that new arrivals at the club were imminent, saying: "If we can, between now and Monday evening, get a couple of people in, which we've been trying furiously to do, then it would give us all a lift and maybe sustain us for the months ahead."

Milner had upset Newcastle earlier in the week by handing in a transfer request and Magpies boss Kevin Keegan had spoken of his desire to keep the former Leeds United star at St James' Park.

He had said on Tuesday after United's 3-2 Carling Cup win at Coventry City: "James has a three-year contract with us at the moment.

"I don't even want to talk about losing James Milner. He's a very important player for us and I think he's worthy of a call-up to the senior England side."

Milner scored 11 goals in 136 appearances during his four-year stay on Tyneside.

Earlier in his career he found the net five times in 54 first-team matches for Leeds after joining the Yorkshire side's academy in 1996.

He made his debut for the club when aged only 16 and, when he scored against Sunderland on Boxing Day 2002, he became the youngest player to find the net in the Premier League.