James Milner transfer news: Manchester City offer midfielder incredible £165,000-a-week contract but fear he will still leave in the summer
Milner is wanted by both Liverpool and Arsenal and is available on a free transfer in the summer
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester City are willing to offer James Milner an incredible £165,000-a-week contract in order to keep him at the club, but the England midfielder will still reject it in order to leave in the summer.
Milner is out of contract at the end of the season having been at the Etihad since 2009, and with the utility midfielder a firm crowd favourite despite not always featuring in the first team, some supporters have put pressure on the club to make more of an effort to keep the 29-year-old beyond the summer.
That looks to have worked somewhat with the Daily Mail reporting that Milner has been offered a basic £135,000-a-week contract that will rise to £165,000-a-week based on lucrative incentives. It represents an increase on his current deal of £15,000 and shows that the club are having second thoughts about letting the former Aston Villa and Newcastle player leave for nothing, but he appears set to do just that.
Manuel Pellegrini’s failure to use Milner in the first team regularly has convinced him that he needs to leave for the good of his career, and with both Arsenal and Liverpool interested he is not short of options.
His desire to play in the centre of midfield – rather than on the right where he tends to appear at City – is also a major reason as to why he is leaning towards a fresh start, and an added bonus would come in that he would be able to demand an inflated signing-on fee given he will cost nothing with his contract expired.
Milner’s record this season does suggest that Pellegrini has looked to use him more since it emerged that the he was considering an exit at the end of the season, having started 18 of the last 28 games he has appeared in. But with Yaya Toure, Fernando and Fernandinho occupying the central midfield, Milner has found opportunities in his favoured position hard to come by and the club already believe that he could have made up his mind to leave next month.
With Steven Gerrard leaving Liverpool to join LA Galaxy, Brendan Rodgers hopes that Milner will agree to move to Anfield for next season and fill the vacant position in the centre, although he will have to take a pay-cut to something closer to £100,000-a-week before a deal can be agreed.
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