Newcastle United managing director Derek Llambias says Aston Villa paid over the odds for James Milner.

Llambias told the Evening Chronicle: "We didn't want to lose James Milner.

"Realistically, he was only worth £6m according to people on our football side. Mike's (Ashley) reasoning was that Villa would never pay £12m.

"But Villa went on and on and on, it got to 10 and we stuck to 12 because we didn't want to lose him.

"At the end of the day I sat here with Milner and his head was turned, he'd played for Villa before and he wanted to go.

"We are not a selling club. We're a buying club."