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Tuesday Kickoff: Milan lands Boateng, Milner off to City and more

Kevin Prince Boateng (ISIphotos.com)

AC Milan's move toward youth has led the Italian club to add a player American fans are very familiar with.

Ghanaian midfielder Kevin Prince Boateng is heading to AC Milan on loan, after Genoa bought out his rights from English club Portsmouth. Genoa is expected to turn around and loan the 23-year-old midfielder to Milan.

Born in Germany, Boateng chose to play for Ghana and helped the Black Stars reach the World Cup quarterfinals. He should help provide some energy and bite to an aging Milan midfield.

Here are some other stories to get your Tuesday going:

MILNER SET FOR MANCHESTER CITY MOVE

James Milner scored a goal in Aston VIlla's season-opening win against West Ham, but that looks to be his final contribution for the Villans.

Milner's long-awaited move to Manchester City has been finalized (pending Milner's physical), with the England World Cup winger heading to Manchester City in exchange for £ 16 million in cash and midfielder Stephen Ireland.

It is believed that the Milner to City move was at least part of the reason for Martin O'Neill's decision to step down as Aston Villa manager.

BELLAMY HEADING TO CARDIFF

When Craig Bellamy had his latest clash with Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini he was expected to be dumped as soon as City could find a suitable destination. Few could have imagined that destination being a League Championship club.

Bellamy is heading to Cardiff City on a season-long loan, where he will try to help his hometown team reach the Premier League.

A number of Premier League clubs were interested in Bellamy, but Manchester City had no interest in sending the enigmatic striker to a rival, particularly not when Manchester City is still hunting for its first Top Four finish under its big-spending owners.

FREE KICKS

Jermaine Jones started in Schalke's DFB Pokal victory on Tuesday. Schalke joined Bayern Munich among top clubs to advance.

Manchester United opened its Premier League campaign with a 3-0 win vs. Newcastle.

Real Madrid's move for Mesut Ozil has been completed.

Oft-injured AC Milan defender Alessandro Nesta has undergone hand surgery, but is expected to be ready for Milan's season opener.

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What do you think of these developments? Think Boateng can succeed at Milan? Did Villa got the better of the Milner deal? Can you see Bellamy helping Cardiff reach the Premier League?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I didn’t know Kevin Prince did something half decent, or was a dirty player cocky and conceited. Okay stop the hate, dude scored against USA in the World Cup, that’s what you suppose to do. Howard got beat to the near post. Ricardo Clark got stripped of the ball; it can happen to anybody, like Feilhaber was stripped by Rossi and Donovan lost the ball against Mexico and both resulted in goals. What if Boateng was an American player with all those characteristics you listed? I wonder if you would look at him differently. And he will get playing time at Milan.

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  2. No, just look at his face in the picture. Remind of someone? Yeah Cristiano Ronaldo gets that same sh!t eaters look on his face when he does something half decent. Prince Boateng is a dirty player and one of the more cocky and conceited players around.

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  3. Tell me about it. As a Villa fan, I think we made out like bandits.

    I never thought we’d be able to find an adequate replacement for Barry, and O’Neill was brilliant to get so much out of Milner. As much as I dislike having our best players poached by Man City, I rate Ireland quite highly…and the spare $16 might be good for something down the line, too.

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  4. Great deal for the villa! A high amount of cash and a very decent and young player in stephen ireland. Welcome to your new home stephen! We’ll get the best out of you yet 🙂 Good luck to milner in holding a first team place down at city

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  5. really, it’s more like five. You figure Kaka, Ozil, VdV, Granero, and Canales. I think VdV is offloaded, Man Utd maybe, with Granero hopefully being loaned out.

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  6. It is kind of funny when you look at the deal combined with Barry also moving to City and Dunne moving to Villa last year.

    So, Villa gets Ireland, who in many people’s view is as good as Milner; Dunne, who performed well and starts every match at the center of their defense; and a bucket of cash. Barry appears to be a part-time starter for City.

    All in all, pretty good for Villa.

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  7. To be fair, Milner IS young and still has potential for improvement (He was named the EPL’s young player of the season…I think he’s 24).

    That being said, I agree completely that the fee is ridiculous, especially considering Ireland is also part of the deal. The Villains have certainly made out like bandits, and hopefully they can reinvest most of the cash on new signings for the club.

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  8. what are you basing this on?

    1) Fulham have basically the exact same squad as last season right now. The starters against Bolton all featured prominently last year

    2) He faces no more competition than he did at any point last year when he was one of their best players

    3) None of the teams you mentioned could afford him right now. Villa said they won’t use the Milner money to get a new player. They don’t need Dempsey anyway. Everton couldn’t afford him. I doubt Napoli could either.

    so, what are you basing this statement on?

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  9. Milner isn’t worth what they paid. And yeah it’s early. But speculation is so much fun and they looked horrific Saturday against Tottenham.

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  10. Milner is only 24. Most players don’t hit their peak until 27-29.

    They are building as Chelsea had, and I assume expect to be playing in multiple competitions for the entirety of the season. It is a lot of change, and a lot of egos, but I wouldn’t write them or Mancini off this early.

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  11. @wyofan, True

    but say a Danny Califf or Michael Parkhurst got attached to a Blackpool or a WBA. We know they’re not good enough. Maybe they improve or maybe they become laughing stocks. Better to be in a league they can handle herego Denmark.

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  12. Depends on their age. Younger players are probably better off playing in lower leagues and moving up.

    A major factor we fans overlook is salary. Most players only have a few good years to play professionally so it’s in their personal best interest to maximize their income. Playing for a lower salary in a lower league may improve their long term prospects but is also a major risk financially if they can make more but play less elsewhere.

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  13. First: Boateng is a great player, but his goal against us in the World Cup and his cockiness has landed him on my villain list. I won’t enjoy watching him this season.

    Second: City have no clue what they are doing. They just gifted Aston Villa a sack full of cash and a good player in Ireland. Milner is a great player, but not 16 million pounds great. If he was 21 then yeah he’d be valuable. But at his age he just isn’t worth that amount. They are clueless over there. Wasting money left and right and I expect Mancini to be gone by Christmas.

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  14. So should more young Americans play in Scandinavia or Holland and earn their right to move up. Or should they risk a chance and head to Germany and England like so many? What about playing in the more technical leagues like Spain, Italy, France?

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  15. Boateng equals this year’s Onyewu? A flavor of the month who impressed for his national team, then was shown that he can’t necessarily make it at the elite level? Granted, Gooch was injured for most of last season, but let’s be honest…he wasn’t turning any heads.

    Milan has been dreadful in the transfer market for the last few years.

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  16. I would love for Dempsey to exceed all expectations again and be a true LEGEND for Fulham, but does he really need to go through the whole on the bench and than be a super sub all season?

    I’d rather he tough it out and head to Spain or Italy.

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  17. So basically Madrid now have the best players in the world and Barca comes in 2nd. Imagine if Robben and Sneijdger were still at RM along with Raul and Guti. They’d have enough depth to field 4 teams.

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  18. We’ll miss Milner. He put in a great box-to-box performance on Saturday, jumping into the attack but also tracking back defensively. Ireland can’t (won’t?) do the same things defensively. We may have to play a 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 to compensate. That means leaving either Albrighton or Downing on the bench, something no Villa fan really wants to do. So selling Milner may hurt us.

    But, jeez, City got mugged. Milner is a great player, but I’ll take 18 million pounds + Ireland — assuming we can use that money to acquire another midfielder, which is doubtful.

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  19. I get that Milner is 24 years old and is an England International, but 16 million pounds? This is the same Milner who got used and abused by Donovan and Cherundalo in the world cup opener, and had to be subbed off in the 27th min because Capello wanted to “protect” him since he already picked up a yellow. Yet, the transfer season has been so slow for American Internationals.

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  20. Villa made out like bandits. Stephen Ireland is very good. Hard to believe City’s player of the year from two years ago is a part of a deal like this

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  21. ozil had a year left on his contract, after which he likely would have signed for madrid on a free, as that is his “dream move.” so in essence, real madrid paid 15 million euros to have him for an extra year. in some ways, that is overvalued.

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  22. I am suprised players still want to go to Man City. Lasy year Bellamy was one of the better players on the team and his is being shipped to the Championship. Ireland was their player of the season the previous year and has been on the outs for awhile. I know the money is good but do you really want to play for a club that will just toss you to the side even if you play weel for them.

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  23. It’s sad to say that this is actually somewhat of a shrewd move from City’s perspective. Spending less cash and being able to dump a player you didnt want anyway is a smart decision. Not sure why “player trades” like this dont happen more often

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  24. Ives, what’s the ‘dd’ at the bottom of the post?

    Cheers!

    I saw the report on Ozil but haven’t heard anything from the clubs about it being official.

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  25. Villa got the best of the deal, always rated Milner but Ireland is also a very good player.

    Cardiff have got the scoop of the summer, dont know how long he will last there, but he is a local boy and should do very very well.

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