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James Milner is being courted by Liverpool and Aston Villa according to www.football4u.eu

Newcastle United may be prepared to sell for the right price but Liverpool are offering a player plus cash deal. The player is a relatively unknown midfielder, Danny Guthrie, who spent last season on loan to Bolton Wanderers and is unlikely to be of interest to Keegan.

The offer of the player seems to indicated that Benitez is not receiving the full amount of cash that he needs to fund his desired transfers this summer. The long drawn-out Gareth Barry transfer is becoming an embarrassment to Liverpool who are being made to look like they haven’t got the cash to back their ambitions or that they are trying to be a bully in the transfer market.

Either way Benitez has lost his nice guy image and is becoming an irritation to other managers.

The competition to Benitez comes from Martin O’Neill, manager of Aston Villa the team for whom Milner played a full season under former Leeds United manager David O’Leary.

Whether the interest is genuine or an attempt to drive up the price Liverpool has to pay to spite them for their pursuit of Barry is unclear.

However, the mere pursuit of Barry may be enough to put off Milner from joining Liverpool. Why swop a starting place at St James’ Park for the bench at Anfield and a manager whose rotation policy would drive a saint to drink?