they could be tempted to chance their arm in an effort to prevent one of their rivals from strengthening their squad.

Milner's undoubtly a good player but I've got 3 reservations about buying him -

1. We're still yet to see the best out of the previous midfielder we got from Villa who was awesome for them.
2. He's only really had 1 excellent season.
3. It would probably spell the end of Stevie.

He's had more than one good season. He played very well the season before but all the media focus was aimed at Young and Agbonlahor. he was also really quite good when he was back at Newcastle as well. He and N'Zogbia were the two stand-outs in the squad in the post-Shearer era.

Did he not also play more games for the England U21 than anyone else?

I say take him, if Ireland goes he goes, there is no room for nostalgia anymore, or so I am told.

Did he not also play more games for the England U21 than anyone else?

I say take him, if Ireland goes he goes, there is no room for nostalgia anymore, or so I am told.

Considering he was playing for them till he was 23, yes.

Villa are now our feeder club.

i like it....

we also use villa park for our old donkeys to retire and graze....

City woo Stephen Ireland and Wright-Phillips to meet 'homegrown' rule• City manager keen to placate English wantaways
• Clubs must have eight homegrown players in 25-man squad
Tweet this (21)Daniel Taylor guardian.co.uk, Monday 17 May 2010 21.14 BST Article history
Stephen Ireland is unhappy at his limited chances at Manchester City. 'There is a lot of frustraiton bottled up,' he said. Photograph: John Walton/Empics Sport


Roberto Mancini's plans for an extensive recruitment programme at Manchester City, with James Milner and Fernando Torres the main targets, will be accompanied by attempts behind the scenes to placate disaffected players such as Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright‑Phillips in the light of the Premier League's new 'homegrown rule'.

While Mancini has received the financial backing of the Abu Dhabi United Group to target players for a sustained challenge in next season's Premier League, City's immense spending power is offset by the knowledge they will have to include eight homegrown footballers in a 25-man squad to be submitted at the end of the August transfer window.

Ireland has already informed the club's chief executive, Garry Cook, and the football administrator, Brian Marwood, that he may leave and has spoken publicly of there being "a lot of frustration bottled up because I have not played as much as I would have liked". That disclosure prompted Mancini to say the midfielder needed to "change his head".

Nedum Onuoha, an England Under‑21 international, has similar grievances to Ireland and spoke at the weekend of his frustrations with the Mancini regime – "the new manager came in and I don't think he liked me," he said – whereas Wright-Phillips has been locked in a contract dispute. His father, the former Arsenal striker Ian Wright, has accused Marwood and Cook of "mugging him off" and "treating him like a youth-team player".

In ordinary circumstances City would allow all three to leave, but the change in rules was agreed last September, in the words of the Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, to demonstrate to the big-spending clubs that "you just can't buy a team from abroad".

As such, City will again try to agree new terms with Wright-Phillips, talks having broken down in March when he asked to join the band of players earning close to £100,000 a week.Wright-Phillips is on £60,000 a week and City, having offered to increase that to £70,000, were unwilling to go higher for a player who will be 30 when his current deal expires in two years.Ireland and Onuoha will also be told that the club will allow them to leave only if the players are adamant about it. Ireland was City's player of the year two seasons ago andhas a long list of admirers, while Aston Villa are monitoring Onuoha's potential availability and Sunderland are considering a £3m offer.

As for Milner, reports of a £24m bid being imminent are not true, but the England internationa and newly crowned Young Footballer of the Yearl figures prominently in City's planning. and the club are holding internal discussions to work out the best strategy to persuade Villa to sell.

What is the homegrown rule? Do they have to have come through our academy, or any academy in England?