9 Jan 2015

'Outstanding': BR drops big hint that 'wonderful' £15m star may be LFC's next signing

Liverpool continue to be linked with a January move for Manchester City star James Milner, and in a disturbing turn of events, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has fanned the flames of speculation with a trademark fawning tribute to the player.

Liverpool are regularly linked with £15m-rated Milner, and in LFC's pre-Sunderland press conference on Thursday, a journo put the following question to Rodgers:

"James Milner is a player who's been particularly strongly linked. Is he a player that's interesting you?"

Rodgers insisted that he'd 'never speak publicly about a player until he's signed and in the door', but then proceeded to do exactly that, when he raved:

"James is a wonderful player. He's an outstanding footballer, and has been since I saw him at Leeds as a young player, but players are linked here regularly by Agents"

'Wonderful' and 'outstanding'? Maybe it's just me, but I definitely hear the shrill wail of alarm bells ringing in the background. Rodgers hailed Mario Balotelli in similarly gushing terms prior to the Italian's £16m move to Anfield, and it appears that the manager has his eye very much on Milner.

It doesn't surprise me at all that Rodgers rates Milner. The harsh reality is that LFC's manager cannot attract the European elite, so he sticks to targets within his reach, i.e. inexperienced young players, or overpriced Brits (Allen, Lallana, Milner etc).

Reds legends Graeme Souness and Gary Gillespie will be happy if Rodgers brings in Milner, though. Analysing the England team ahead of the recent victory over Scotland, Souness raved:

"I really like him [Milner]. He’d be one of the first on the team sheet for me — both at Man City and with England. He’s improved greatly in his time at City. Apart from being a workaholic, he’s now added quality to his game"

When asked in October about Liverpool's alleged interest in Milner, Gillespie enthused:

"He [Milner] is a manager's dream. He doesn't upset the apple cart, and you know what you're going to get. He doesn't really catch the eye, but he works his socks off, and doesn't get the rewards he deserves".

Milner is a steady, reliable payer, but his pedestrian brand of huff-and-puff football is definitely not going to take Liverpool to the next level. Milner's creative stats over the last 4 years:

* 2014-15: 3 goals/7 assists in 28 apps (so far)
* 2013-14: 2 goals/15 assists in 44 apps.
* 2012-13: 4 goals/7 assists in 35 apps.
* 2011-12: 3 goals/5 assists in 37 apps.
* 2010-11: 3 goals/8 assists in 42 apps
* TOTALS: 15 goals/40 assists in 173 apps
* Goal every 13 apps | Assist every 4.5 apps.

Thankfully, City boss Manuel Pellegrini confirmed this week that Milner is likely to sign a new contract. He told reporters:

"We are talking with James, and I hope he will sign his contract. I repeat, he wants to stay and the club wants to keep him.”

Sign that contract now!

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75 comments:

  1. Done with speculating on transfers , no players want to join us anymore,Xherdan Shaqiri rejected us.
    Do you know why there is one reason why
    BRENDAN RODGERS
    Brendan Rodgers is a watford manager he has no aura ,he has no fancy name and he has achieved nothing.
    While Roberto Mancini comes back to Inter brings in podloski and Shaqiri after inter struggled for years since Mourinho left to buy big players.


    The manager is so key to buying big players unless you are manager of Barcelona.


    Bring Rafael Benitez back he joined Napoli signed Higuain,Albiol,Mertens,
    Thoose players would not have moved to Napoli if Rafa was not manager and Brendan was,


    SACK WATFORD MANAGER BRENDAN RODGERS!
    BRING BACK THE GREAT ONE THE LEGEND BENITEZ!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great option to have in rotation. But at City he has big salary and is a part of trophies, if he comes here he will want to play more probably, and he is not a starter for a top4.
    Plus, you find that type of a player when you have almost everything you need, not when you are trying to turn your season around.

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  3. We just need to "fancy" his name up a bit. Throw in a couple of silent Qs and a few well-placed accent marks. Oh, and he should grow a mustache. Not one of those Old West Sam Elliott ones, but one like Hercule Poirot: waxed and gentlemanly. That should sort things out.

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  4. Name is important
    Rafael Benitez
    Jose Mourinho
    Arsene Wenger
    Diego Simeone
    Manuel Pellegrini
    Jurgen Klopp
    Pep Guardiola
    Carlo Ancelotti
    Andre Villas Boas


    Those names sound exciting the name makes them mysterious


    then you have
    Joe Rodgers

    ReplyDelete
  5. Danny Sturridges Physio3:04 pm, January 09, 2015

    shut up, Napoli are horrible to watch

    ReplyDelete
  6. A goalkeeper and striker before anything else or he deserves the sack. a sore head and a sore foot and Rodgers wants to bandage the ribs.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yet they win trophies




    TROPHIES MORE IMPORTANT THEN GOOD FOOTBALL!

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  8. Call him Javier Escalante

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  9. Mate, I think you've solved the problem. Fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Tell Brendan Joe Rodgers to change his name though

    ReplyDelete
  11. What, the equivalent of the Charity Shield?

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  12. Who is the real comedian on here ?


    You or Vermhat


    can you guys have a jokes competition?

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  13. Its bigger in Italy
    Plus last season he won a trophy to play for this Trophy




    Kenny Daglish won a trophy one year
    FSG sacked him


    Joe Rodgers three years no trophies
    FSG give him a new contract






    FSG

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  14. We did. Stuart won.

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  15. Who is Stuart?

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  16. If we did want him a testimonial like the one Rodgers gave will make sure they don't sell him to us. clever boy. get Ibe back buy / loan a top striker, hypnotise Mingolet so Rodgers can click his fingers before the game and say Simon " you can come off your line everything is calm you won't panic"

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  17. Is Stuart the dog?


    Ha you got best by a dog

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  18. Brining back Benitez will be the biggest mistake ever.


    Nothing will be his fault again if things go wrong and those who roll out the red carpet for him will be blaming everyone and everything else again too.

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  19. So he should have not spoke out against Hicks and Gillet
    he should have just kept licking their Ar*e liek Brendan does to FSG?


    Are you telling me Rafa should ahve let Hicks and Gillet run us to the ground

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  20. Rafa along with H & G needed to go and they did. That is that.

    ReplyDelete
  21. He is steady but we have that already. We need players who are going to be an upgrade;
    Lucas out Schneiderlin in
    Gerrard free Moussa sissoko in
    Borini out Lambert out Origi and lacazette in
    Bernd Leno GK
    Johnson out abate or dani alves free transfer
    Konoplyanka free transfer in
    Andre Ayew free transfer in
    Sell:
    Enrique
    Aspas
    Luis Alberto
    Assaidi
    Coates for sure
    Promote rossiter ibe to first team squad. Let's bring on the new homegrown talent. Got Wilson and Ojo too.

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  22. You lost the credibility with Abate..

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  23. Rodgers gave his standard response when questioned directly about a player. He's said it plenty of times about players we've never subsequently signed.

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  24. even a good blayer dilinihes under BR's control.lallana has dropped,SG scored his least goals per season under br,coutinho not where he was last season, even balotelli has never played this number of leaque games without a goal.br keeps thinking that our problem is sturdge's abse but city have played more than a month without aguaru,dzeko and jovetic and in the precee,they have closed up with chelsea.should a liverpool coach need his bet team to pick up points against sunderland,hull city,liecester, aston villa, westharm?.again city won thier most crucial CL away at roma without four first choice players.br is not good for us.we paid suarex what cavani and falcao were demanding as wages.we are currently paying uselessly almost the same for balotelli,borini and lambert.inconsistency is br's pssword.players whom he put on his departuere list played the most crucial games for him.enrique played both CL matches agst basel,johnson and lucas are first choice players after signing CAN and marguillo.br cannt attrct any ambitius player.

    ReplyDelete
  25. The free transfers would be at the end of the season but we could still try to sign them for low fees this window. Forgot khedira and nigel de Jong are options too. In an ideal world we would be aggressively trying to sign these type of realistic signings, but on past outcomes, we won't! The transfer commitee have January 32nd circled in their diary as the day they will start trying to sign people!

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  26. Decent player for free that's for sure 👍

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  27. That is not Rodgers' 'standard response' in any way. He usually doesn't praise prospective targets; Balotelli, and now Milner are the only recent exceptions I can think of. He usually just says 'I don't comment on other players) or words to that effect.

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  28. So we want a decent player from a team strugling to get CL in a lesser league?

    ReplyDelete
  29. Not that easy
    Liverpool are now on a sell to buy policy we have no money


    So we can only get best out of our investment
    if Rodgesr cant get best out of Balotelli,Markovic,Lallana,Can,Sakho,Lovren
    maybe Rafael Benitez will

    ReplyDelete
  30. Rodgers praises everyone. Just because you can't think of it doesn't make it fact.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Will Hughes
    Ricky Lambert

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  32. ...and there you have it.

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  33. Milner had 15 assists last season, 7 so far this year. That's credible enough. I can see him in a deeper midfield role at Liverpool, perhaps on the left side of the central 3. Allen generally plays there but Milner would offer more go-forward. I'd have no problem with Milner at Liverpool, especially on a free.

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  34. Pieter Engelbrecht3:54 pm, January 09, 2015

    sign, the man ,Ian you out there?

    ReplyDelete
  35. I realised today that the month is 1/3 gone and I haven't checked the BBC or Skysports transfer centers once. That's how apathetic I've become towards our transfers. I just don't expect anything impressive happen so I guess I'm happier when we sign no one. Milner is the type of squad player we should pick up in the summer if we can but we shouldn't be paying money for him right now. If we spend money this month it should be on a signing like Suarez was a couple of years back. An exciting player who will walk into the first team and change our season around. But since that will never happen...

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  36. I've never before voted down a post on this site. Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  37. For a free transfer he is a good signing. We can't attract very good players as clearly obvious from previous windows- mkhytarian, Willian, Costa, salah to name but a few. We have to be realistic, unless we have a manager that players want to play under. Then, it might be different. And he's better than johnson.

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  38. Prefer giving Flanno and even Wisdom their chance...

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  39. Get rid of Ian Ayre and problem is solved

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  40. And that solves our problem of attracting better players with Rodgers in charge?

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  41. Oh yes people will easily remember even Alex Ferguson would they. Seriously Scottish people don't know how to name their children

    ReplyDelete
  42. Trophies,!!!!! you mean Seria A after buying higuain, callejon. No I forgot they won the super coppa the most prestigious trophy in Italy

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  43. Is Dodgers being made to buy this crap in the name of moneyball, or is he just a complete prat? (yeah, tough one that) I guess it's a bit of both. FSG don't want a manager to rock the boat, so we got Dodgery, whereas Manure acted quickly in getting shot of Moyes and got LVG...big difference, one's a WINNER and ones a LOSER, one can attract big name, proven proffessionals and one can't. which one do you think we have?

    ReplyDelete
  44. Why cant Rodgers win the community sheild in england
    or the fa cup or league cup

    ReplyDelete
  45. That different he was the biggest leegedn in teh game he made his sucsess in a different era

    ReplyDelete
  46. The solution is to get rid of Rodgers, not bring back Rafa and to appoint somebody else.

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  47. agreed until you said Benitez

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  48. voting yourself up doesn't make it better

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  49. BR doesnt hint - next?

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  50. Sterling according to talksport is nowhere near signing a new contract

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  51. If Milner is our way of improving the team to compete with Chelsea, Man City and Man U, we are in the deepest possible shit there is. Lets hope our sights are set higher or we just say what the hell and add 1-2 veterans and replace all the deadwood with existing kids we have and throw in the towel for this season..............

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  52. Of course it does, you silly person.

    ReplyDelete
  53. please stick to the COMMENT POLICY!



    attack the argument not the person ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  54. Nige,
    Now you are talking!!!!!!!! Put your application to LFC front office asap!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  55. Not that I'm for or against Benitez coming back.
    Your ability to see into the future is fascinating can you give me next weeks LOTTO numbers while you're at it.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Orme,
    Agree 100%. Flanno deserves to reclaim his spot in the lineup either on the right or left with Manquillo and Moreno in a 3 man rotation kind of set-up since Flanno can play both sides. Wisdom is clumsy as an outside back....

    ReplyDelete
  57. let's make a swap deal with TIA!
    if they bring jason back to us they can have our weird sheikh

    ReplyDelete
  58. You will have more chance of winning the lotto than seeing LFC win the EPL with Benitez.

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  59. Not point in getting rid of Rogers UNLESS you have a viable replacement and frankly speaking I don't see any TOP CLASS COACH/MANAGER available at the moment so lets just limp on until the end of the season. Oh BTW don't expect any STRONG characters to replace Rogers as thats not the transfer committees way.
    I

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  60. Please dear God, sign the Ajax manager and send BR back to the suburbs.......

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  61. The way you said it is not nice but it is the truth...not sugar coated thats where we are.

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  62. Why isn't my club going forward? Last season we where brilliant, nearly won the PL.This season Suarez gets his transfer then we loose Sturridge. Next season there's going to be no Stevie G...OMG Still I feel greatness is just round the corner, but FSG give our club a proven signing we need for now.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Wont happen even though I'd like to give them a chance.
    The transfer committee is an utter disaster.

    ReplyDelete
  64. I'm afraid your going to have to endure Brendan until the end of the season and maybe until Xmas 2015 before the wall of noise finally reaches FSG.
    When they dismiss Rogers they should send the infamous transfer committee with him.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Personally I think Milner is underrated and if we sign him for free in the summer I'll have no problem with that whatsoever. We will need a player of his experience as well

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  66. Every... Damn... Day

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  67. Rodgers will be gone by the end of the season and the transfer committee will go with him which he is part of.

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  68. Oh yeah I would too , especially flanno! He was going so well before his injury. Kelly too- shame we sold him in my opinion. You need two players per position don't you so it's no harm swapping johnson for another player and definitely keeping flanno.

    ReplyDelete
  69. It's not rocket science in my opinion. We all watch football I'm sure- not only lfc games so we know who's decent and who's got potential and who won't improve our squad. I just can't fathom why we continuously (for the most part), get it wrong every window ?!

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  70. I was with him until he said "Done"

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  71. liverpool better get with the program or there going to lose a lot more than just games. Choose 3 realistic quality targets and go super hard even if it means paying overs. Got a couple of duds in summer buy TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT. Lacazzete fine. You want him pay overs. Benzema pay overs two proven qaulity players. We paid 20 for markovich and no scout noticed he cant take on defenders because he has NO dribling skills. Stop living in a dream world where you think u can devolop a drill from a screwdriver you need to go and buy the right tools.

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  72. Simply amazing hahaha. TBH I thought he just changed his name to Logan ;) No offence Logan

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