• Lack of top-flight experience counts against Bob Bradley
• Caretaker Kevin MacDonald will be considered if he applies

Aston Villa are stepping up the search for Martin O’Neill’s successor and will begin interviewing candidates this week. Ideally a new man should be installed by the end of the international break but no deadlines have been set.

The Villa Park board believe previous Premier League experience is imperative, effectively ruling out Bob Bradley, the USA coach who has expressed interest in the post. Villa are understood to have made no approach for David Moyes, the Everton manager, and are not thought to be interested in Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Kevin MacDonald, the Villa caretaker, had been in pole position but it seems a 6-0 hammering at Newcastle United followed by defeat in a Europa League qualifier against Rapid Vienna prompted Randy Lerner, Villa’s owner, to widen the hunt.

It is understood no other candidates had been approached before the European exit last Thursday but a statement from Villa Park indicated this has now changed. “We have thoroughly researched potential candidates and have reached out to a variety of contacts we have within the game for advice and guidance,” it said. “Two of the traits we believe are of crucial importance are that candidates have experience of managing in the Premier League and a strategy for building on the existing strengths in our current squad.”

Villa have made it clear that, despite a shortage of top‑flight managerial experience, the much admired MacDonald – who steered his players to victory over Everton yesterday – will still be considered for the job should he want to enter the interview process. He was due to meet Lerner to discuss the future today and his intentions should shortly become clear.

The former Villa defender Gareth Southgate, out of work since his dismissal by Middlesbrough last autumn, could be another candidate, while it is not inconceivable that Lerner may attempt to prise Martin Jol, the former Tottenham manager, away from Ajax.

Luke Young, the scorer of the winner against Everton, hopes that Villa will opt for MacDonald. “I am pleased we got the result for Kev. He has not had much luck this last week but he is very good at what he does and I hope now he is given a chance of being the manager,” said the full‑back, who was frozen out by O’Neill.

“As a squad of players we need to know who it is going to be, whether it is Kev or someone else. I have worked with Kev and know he knows football inside out. He knows tactics and formations and can see what is going right and what is going wrong. I have played under a few people who don’t know half as much as Kev.

“It is whether he wants to take the stress of what comes with being a first‑team manager but he has an edge about him that makes you want to please him. If Kev tells you you have played well you know you have played well. He knows his stuff.”

Young has clearly found MacDonald a better communicator than O’Neill, who apparently failed to explain his sidelining. “I am not sure what the reasons were,” he said. “It was a confusing time for me. I didn’t really get an answer to anything.”

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• Deal goes through after Stephen Ireland agrees payoff
• Bellamy leads exodus with Given and Robinho follow

A remarkable day of transfer business, even by the modern-day standards of Manchester City, concluded tonight with James Milner finally checking in from Aston Villa, Stephen Ireland going in the opposite direction in return, and Craig Bellamy dropping down a division to join Cardiff City on a season-long loan.

On the day that English football’s most powerful spenders paraded Mario Balotelli, the £22.5m signing from Internazionale, the manager, Roberto Mancini, said he would not stand in Shay Given’s way if he wants to leave Eastlands now that Joe Hart has been established as City’s first-choice goalkeeper.

Roque Santa Cruz has also been formally removed from the 25-man squad submitted to Uefa for Thursday’s Europa League qualifier against Timisoara, his place going to Balotelli so that the 20-year-old Italian can make his debut.

Milner’s first appearance in the most expensively assembled squad in the Premier League will come against Liverpool on Monday evening. The England international travelled to Manchester this afternoon after City finally reached a compromise over the payoff for Ireland that was holding up the deal.

Ireland will receive around half of the £2m he was holding out for. He was at Villa’s training ground to meet his new team-mates as the £8m makeweight in a £26m player-plus-cash exchange. Both players have already agreed personal terms and an official announcement will be made tomorrow, on the condition that they both pass a routine medical examination.

The signing of Milner comes after a three-month pursuit, revealed by the Guardian in May, that has indirectly led to Martin O’Neill’s resignation as Villa’s manager because of his dissatisfaction about the amount of money the club’s owner, Randy Lerner, was willing to free up for new players.

Milner, Villa’s player of the year, is likely to be the final arrival of another summer of extensive incomings and outgoings at City, with Balotelli, Yaya Touré, Jérôme Boateng, Aleksandar Kolarov and David Silva also being added to the squad at a total cost of £126m.

At the same time, Mancini seems intent on phasing out the players signed by his predecessor, Mark Hughes, with Santa Cruz and Given both in line to leave before the transfer window closes on 1 September.

City are negotiating with at least two clubs about a possible move for Robinho, with Besiktas established as one of the potential buyers even though reports in Turkey of a delegation flying to England are premature.

Robinho, citing fatigue after the World Cup and the conclusion of the domestic Brazilian season, has been training alone in City’s gymnasium since returning from his six-month loan arrangement with Santos last week, and he, like Given, has informed the club he wants to leave.

Given, the Republic of Ireland international, confirmed as much during a brief meeting with Mancini yesterday and is a target for Hughes now the former City manager is in charge at Fulham.

The proposal is for Given to move to Craven Cottage on loan and, in turn, their goalkeeper, Mark Schwarzer, would be allowed to join Arsenal, where he is wanted to replace Manuel Almunia. Other clubs, however, are interested in Given, described by Mancini last season as being among the top five keepers in the world.

“I hope Shay can stay with us but I respect whatever his decision is,” Mancini said this afternoon. “I hope he stays as we are involved in four competitions and we need a strong squad but we will respect it if he wants to leave, and I cannot change his decision.”

Fulham, using agents as intermediaries, have also contacted City about Santa Cruz but it is a measure of how far the Paraguayan striker’s stock has fallen on the back of an injury-wrecked first season in Manchester that, as yet, there have been no formal bids for the former Blackburn Rovers player.

As for Bellamy, he has been looking for a new club since the breakdown of his relationship with Mancini, but his move to Cardiff represents a considerable surprise given that the Wales international captain had the chance to join Celtic as well as several Premier League clubs, including Sunderland, Fulham and Everton. Tottenham Hotspur were also interested but City ruled that out on the grounds they did not want to sell to one of their competitors for the Champions League places.

City are waiting for the results of tests to ascertain the seriousness of the ankle injury that Kolarov aggravated during Saturday’s goalless draw at Tottenham. He and Boateng, who missed the trip to White Hart Lane with a knee problem, were unable to train today, and that could mean a recall for Joleon Lescott, possibly as left-back.

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• England midfielder prepares for Portugal tour with Villa
• Aston Villa and Manchester City reach impasse over fee

Aston Villa have reinforced their message that James Milner will leave only on their terms by naming the midfielder among the party who travel to Portugal on Wednesday. Milner held talks about his future with Martin O’Neill today and, although he will not feature in the friendly at Walsall tomorrow, his inclusion in the first-team squad for the trip to the Algarve has underlined Villa’s stance that nothing will change unless Manchester City meet their valuation.

With no indication that City are ready to pay the £30m asking price at the present time, O’Neill has effectively signalled that it is a case of business as usual at Villa by taking Milner with him to compete against Benfica and Feyenoord in the Guadiana Cup. The Villa manager’s decision mirrors how he handled Liverpool’s pursuit of Gareth Barry two years ago, when he fell out with the midfielder but later integrated him back into the team as the Merseyside club struggled to fund the deal.

Although City are clearly not operating with the same financial constraints that Liverpool were then, Milner’s proposed transfer has reached an impasse because of a £6m disparity in the two clubs’ valuations. It remains likely that common ground will be found but until that happens Villa are determined that Milner will continue to honour his contract and represent the club, whether that be in a pre-season friendly or the opening Premier League match against West Ham United.

That path ahead was mapped out in a meeting at Bodymoor Heath today, when Milner reported back for his first day of pre-season training after being given an extended break. The discussions provided Milner with an opportunity to express his disappointment that O’Neill had claimed he had “intimated” he wanted to leave the club this summer and that he was not interested in signing a new contract. Villa described the talks as amicable, although whether the air has truly been cleared remains to be seen.

Aston Villa’s statement said: “James Milner trained with the rest of the Villa squad today. He and the manager, along with chief executive Paul Faulkner and the player’s representative, Matthew Buck, had an amicable conversation and, while James will not play in the game at Walsall, he will fly with the squad to Portugal on Wednesday ahead of the Guadiana Cup in which Villa will compete with Benfica and Feyenoord this weekend.”

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