Aston Villa’s Martin O’Neill is one of the most respected managers in the Premiership, and though his Sunday counterpart is highly scrutinized, Liverpool’s Rafa Benitez is also very highly regarded. But after Sunday’s match at Villa Park, you would not have been able to convince anybody new to the Premiership that either manager deserved their reputations. Each had his team play negative football, with the inevitable 0-0 outcome predictable from the match’s opening moments.

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The James Milner move was the subject of a saga throughout the week, but today Aston Villa confirmed that they have agreed to a transfer with Newcastle for the England U21 winger.  The reported fee is around £10 million.

Milner had been linked with Villa, Everton, and Liverpool all summer, though Kevin Keegan and Newcastle United fought hard to hold onto him.  Milner, however, handed in a transfer request on August 20, a fact that surfaced this week.  Milner and the Professional Footballer’s Association took exception to news of the request becoming public, as they ahd respected the club’s wish to keep the matter private while a move was negotiated.  The PFA and Milner intimated that Newcastle had released the news prior to a transfer as a public relations step.

Milner had been playing wing for the Magpies, mostly on the right, in a midfield whose improvement form last season has been a major factor in Newcastle’s strong Premiership start.  The 22-year-old appeared in all three Newcastle matches (2 Premier League; 1 Carling Cup) and had been one of the club’s better players over the last week, assisting on Michael Owen’s goal against Bolton.  But the club’s unwillingness to improve the terms of a contract signed last season had the winger, whose role with the club has increased during that time, seeking a move.

Milner rejoins Aston Villa after spending the 2005-06 season on loan at Villa Park.  He will play mostly on the right win and will be expected to provide service for John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor, allowing Ashley Young to move forward on the left when Villa builds up the right.  His playing time is not guaranteed, however, as in addition to Young, Villa have Gareth Barry, Nigel Reo-Coker, and Steve Sidwell in the middle fo the pitch.

For Newcastle, it thins out a lineup that is already hurting for an attack with forward Obafemi Martins and Mark Viduka ailing.  Milner’s sale means Geremi, a fixture until recently competing for a spot with Milner, will be more likely to reclaim playing time.

Premier League fans:  How does this effect Newcastle’s strong start?  And is the added depth worth the expendature for Villa?  Let us know what you think in the comments, below.

When Aston Villa last took the field in competitive player, they finished up an Intertoto Cup win over Danish side Odense BK with midfielder Gareth Barry having come on to play left back for the injured Wilfred Bouma.  The Dutch left back’s dislocated right ankle left him out for six months and Vilal down to three first team backs in the squad.

Since that match two weeks ago, Martin O’Neill has finally made good on his promise to bolster his defense.  Over the last week, Villa brought in young left back Luke Young from Middlesbrough and veteran Nicky Shorey from Reading.  Today, O’Neill made a back line acquisition that greatly improves Villa’s chances to secure one of the Premiership’s UEFA Cup spots.

Carlos Cuéllar, last season’s Scottish Premier League Player of the Year, has been acquired from Glasgow club Rangers for £7.6 million.  The 26-year-old Spaniard moves to Villa after Rangers were eliminated from the Champions League last week.  He will immediately slot into the middle of Aston Villa’s defense, providing O’Neill with a world class option in front of goaltender  Brad Friedel.

Cuéllar spent one season in Scotland after moving to the SPL from Osasuna.  He was Ranger’s best player as the Glasgow club challenged for four trophies, eventually winning the Scottish Cup and the League Cup.  Over the course of an incredibly busy season, Cuéllar played 65 games, scoring five goals, and often being the linchpin behind a team that coach Walter Smith had playing very conservatively, particularly in the UEFA Cup.

The team would make the finals of that tournament, losing to Zenit St. Petersburg.   Rangers also challenged Celtic for the Scottish Premier League title, eventually losing by three points.

Rangers were eliminated from Champions League last week after losing their second round qualifying tie to Lithuania’s FBK Kaunas.  The defeat, particularly disappointing as a late goal but home team Kaunas took defeated Rangers when the visitors were four minutes from advancing, spawned speculation that the Scottish club would need to sell players.   Aston Villa’s offer to Cuéllar triggered a release in his contract, allowing him to be the first to leave.

Cuéllar’s first opportunity to play for Villa comes on Thursday as the club takes on Iceland’s Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar in the second round of UEFA Cup qualifying.

Former Chivas USA and current second choice United States national team goaltender Brad Guzan has spanned the final hurdle in his move to the Premiership. Today, Guzan was granted his work permit, clearing the way for him to sign his previously agreed-to contract with Aston Villa and join Martin O’Neill’s side after the Olympics. Guzan is currently with the United States’ Olympic team in preparation for the Beijing games, where he was selected as one of the squad’s three over-age players.

Guzan and Villa had agreed to a move in January that was canceled because of the inability to secure a work permit. England typically only issues work permits to players who are regulars on their country’s senior national team. In the intervening months, Guzan made more appearances for Bob Bradley and the national team, helping to secure his work permit.

In his three plus seasons with Chivas USA, Guzan played in 82 regular season matches and won an MLS Goaltender of the Year award. He had a shaky start to this MLS season, letting in a couple of howlers, but has recovered to again assert himself as one of the league’s best and Bradley’s choice behind Everton’s Tim Howard.

For Aston Villa, he will have an opportunity to learn from fellow American Brad Friedel, who just transferred to Villa Park from Blackburn. Friedel signed a three year deal, over which he is expected to transition his starting job to Guzan.

Manchester City advanced to the second round of UEFA Cup qualifying after completing a 4-0 aggregate victory over Faroe Islands club EB/Streymur.  City advances with a 2-0 win in today’s second leg, played at Barnsley’s Oakwell.

Only a strong match from EB goaltender Rene Torgard kept the score within two.  Manchester City dominated the club from the small island-nation located between the British Isles and Iceland.  Torgard turned away three strong scoring chances from City before midfielder Martin Petrov broke through in the forty-eighth minute, with his second goal of the tie.  Darius Vassell (pictured) completed the match’s scoring in stoppage time.

EB were held without a shot on goal while Citeh put 17 of their 35 shots on net, controlling almost four-fifths of the possession.

City’s performance came despite being short on forwards, with Jô with the Brazilian national team and Benjani Mwaruwari, their starting striker at the end of last season, out with a long-term leg injury.  Darius Vassell started as one forward, teamming with 18-year-old Daniel Sturridge.

Despite these short-comings, Manchester City advances to the second UEFA Cup qualifying round.  They will find out their next opponent after tomorrow’s draw, which will determine who they play will over August 14 and August 28’s second round legs.

Aston Villa will also be drawn into the second round tomorrow after qualifying via Intertoto Cup.

Thursday’s second leg had to be played at Oakwell in Barnsley because of a scheduling conflict that saw Manchester City’s customary home ground, City of Manchester Stadium, previous scheduled with a Bon Jovi concert.

Yesterday, Aston Villa’s 1-0 victory over Danish side Odense BK gave them entrance into Europe, winning one of eleven Intertoto Cup births and becoming the ninth Premiership side to qualify for European football.

Ashley Young’s 50th minute goal held up, giving Villa a 3-2 win on aggregate following last week’s 2-2 draw in Denmark.

The Intertoto birth gives them entrance into second round UEFA Cup qualifying, where they and fellow Premiership side Manchester City, who qualified for Europe via the fair-play league, hope to make it through to the main UEFA Cup draw.

The match, which came on the same day as Villa announced the acquisition of new starting goaltender Brad Friedel, saw the return to action for wantaway midfielder Gareth Barry, who came on as a fourteenth minute substitute. Perhaps because of the circumstance - coming on to provide a lift for a squad dealing with an injured player - Barry received applause from a fan base that has been antagonistic toward his desire to leave the club. Martin O’Neill had said prior to the match that Barry could play if the player’s attitude and the manager’s inclination to put him in. When left back Wilfred Bouma went down with a serious ankle injury, O’Neill decided to put in his star midfielder with the hopes of capturing the qualifying goal.

Bouma is expected to miss four months after suffering a dislocated right ankle in an incident that led some to compare it to last year’s injury to Arsenal’s Eduardo de Silva. Initial appearances had many thinking the injury a compound fracture, like de Silva’s. De Silva missed Euro 2008 in recovering and is still not back to full health. Though the incident itself looked like it could have been as bad, Bouma’s initial prognosis is much better - a dislocated right ankle - though missing the rest of 2008 with an injury is no light timetable.

Although their transfer activity could still address the issue, the Bouma injury leaves Aston Villa particularly thin at defense. The injury could force acting captain Nigel Reo-Coker,a natural midfielder, to see more time in the back, something he was called on to do sparingly last season. Reo-Coker was already likely to see time at right back with Villa having failed to replace new Juventus back Olaf Mellberg. Now Martin O’Neill will need to act quickly to strengthen the back line.

On August 1st, Aston Villa will find out who they are matched-up against in UEFA Cup second round qualifying. Their entrance into European football will see them join (Champions League clubs) Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, (UEFA Cup clubs) Everton, Portsmouth, Tottenham and Manchester City.

Former American international goalkeeper Brad Friedel completed his move from Blackburn to Aston Villa in what is likely to be the long stop in the 37-year-old’s distinguished club career.  After eight seasons with the Rovers, Friedel moves from Ewood Park for £2.5 million, completing a transfer the goalie had requested last week.   After Blackburn acquired former England international Paul Robinson from Tottenham, Friedel was cleared by new manager Paul Ince for the move to Villa Park.   The move was completed today after Friedel and Aston Villa agreed on a three-year deal.

Aston Villa finished sixth last season, one spot above Blackburn, and had been looking all summer for a replacement for Scott Carson, who moved to West Bromwich Albion after being returned to Liverpool after his Villa loan expired.  Friedel became available recently when he requested to move from Ewood Park in the wake of former manager Mark Hughes’s departure for Manchester City, where Friedel had also been removed to move.  Whereas City’s Joe Hart would have provided competition for the starting spot at City, Friedel will be assumed the starter for Martin O’Neill’s side.

Friedel will serve in front of fellow American Brad Guzan, provided the recently-acquired former Chivas USA star secures his work permit.

With Aston Villa’s Intertoto Cup victory today over Danish side Odense, Friedel one step closer to playing European soccer again, with Villa now through to second-round UEFA Cup qualifying.  Friedel had played in the UEFA Cup in the last two seasons with Blackburn, though he stood to be left out this season after Blackburn’s seventh place finish failed to qualify them for continental soccer.

Friedel leaves Rovers having made 356 career appearances with the club, including playing in every Premier League match for the club over the last four seasons.  Aston Villa is Friedel’s third Premiership side, having played for Liverpool for three seasons before shifting to Ewood Park.

Aston Villa have successfully bid for Blackburn goalkeeper and former U.S. international Brad Friedel.  Villa will pay the Rovers £2 million for the 37-year-old goaltender, who made 346 appearances in all competitions for Blackburn over the last seven seasons.  Should he agree to terms with Villa, Friedel will immediately step-in as the starting goaltender for Martin O’Neill, serving as a mentor for fellow American Brad Guzan.

Friedel is coming off a stellar year for Blackburn which saw him play a major role in the club’s seventh place finish.  He appeared in all forty-seven of Blackburn’s  matches last season, playing every minute.  Along with striker Roque Santa Cruz and midfielder David Bentley, Friedel formed the core of a team that finished just outside of qualification for European soccer.

Friedel has had a turmoltuous offseason after Mark Hughes left for Manchester City and was replaced by Paul Ince.  Two weeks ago, rumors speculated that Ince sought to replace Friedel.  Ince later affirmed his desire to keep the veteran goalkeeper.  Friedel later requested to move to Villa.  At Villa Park, Friedel would assume the starting position occupied last season by Scott Carson, who will be at West Brom this season.

In addition to being out of European football, Blackburn faces a potential rebuilding, with transfers of Santa Cruz and Bentley being speculated.  This along with a coaching change makes the move of the veteran goalkeeper likely.  Friedel would leave Ewood Park having established himself as one of the best keepers in club history.

Aston Villa remains alive for European football through the Intertoto Cup.

According to multiple English and MLS sources, Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan has agreed a deal with Premiership side Aston Villa for $1.5 Million. The 23 year old keeper gave what sounded like a goodbye to Chivas USA fans after last nights 1-1 draw with the LA Galaxy. According to our sources Guzan has agreed a deal and the deal should be announced very soon, which could see yet another successful American goalkeeper make the move to England. Guzan was close to a move earlier this season but did not have the required percentage of senior international caps to secure a work permit. Guzan had also attracted interest from Scottish giants Celtic, through strong performances with Chivas USA and the Mens National Team. We should be getting some more information on the transfer details and the details of Guzan’s contract, make sure to check back often. What do you think of the move? Good for Brad? What’s next for Chivas USA?

UPDATE: Our tips turned out to be true, Soccer By Ives is now reporting $3 Million transfer fee, bargain for Villa.

UPDATE 2: Looks like the transfer fee is now reported at being only $1.5 Million, mainly because Guzan is in his last year under contract, but Villa just got a major steal.