Newcastle sold James Milner to Aston Villa because they thought they could buy Bastian Schweinsteiger
NEWCASTLE sold James Milner to Aston Villa to pave the way for a sensational move for Bastian Schweinsteiger, as revealed by former coach Terry McDermott.
Kevin Keegan, who was in charge of the Toon in 2008, was worried that the club wouldn’t be able to replace the now-Liverpool winger, who went for £15million.
Milner is now a key man for Jurgen Klopp’s LiverpoolPA:Press Association
McDermott has exposed the huge gamble on one of the club’s most talented stars – which invariably backfired.
Milner went on to sign for Aston Villa, before joining Manchester City and Liverpool.
The current Blackpool assistant and former Kop legend said: “Kevin said ‘if we sell him for 15 million quid, how are we going to replace him?’
Terry McDermott (right) with Kevin Keegan at NewcastlePA:Press Association
“They [the board] said ‘we’ve already got one – Schweinsteiger‘.
“He’s at Man United now but seven or eight years ago he was a superstar and they said we could get him.
“The idea of accepting the bid of 15 million for Milner, which was a lot of money then, and then we’re looking to get Schweinsteiger it’s a no brainer.
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Bayern Munich actually wanted £50m for SchweinsteigerGetty Images
"However, it emerged after the sale that Mike Ashley hadn't quite done his research properly.
"But after he's signed for Villa - the day after - we're trying to sign Schweinsteiger and the answer [from Bayern Munich] was 'absolutely no chance, it will cost you £50 million if you wanted to buy Schweinsteiger'.
"So we had no one to replace him [Milner]. But he was irreplaceable anyway because he could play anywhere."
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