James Milner has revealed how he embraced the challenge of being Liverpool’s fill-in left-back during the 2016/7 season.
Throughout his distinguished career, Milner has shown a great deal of versatility and professionalism.
In the days of ‘stroppy antics’, Milner is of the old-guard in putting his head down and producing a real good shift for the team even if it meant playing out of his customary position.
But even he admits to raising a eyebrow when Jürgen Klopp came to him in time of a positional crisis when the incumbent left-back Alberto Moreno had produced one poor performance too many even for the patient manager to tolerate.
Milner recalled the story per The Mirror (via Sky Sports):
“It was what the manager needed at the time.
“There's always going to be positions you prefer but you do what's needed for the team.
“I suppose at that point I could have turned around and said, 'No I don't want to do that, I want to leave.
“A few of the boys were a bit surprised when we set up at pre-season training the next day and I was at left-back, but that was part of the fun.”
Milner admitted that Klopp has a true level of persuasion about him and the way the German put the challenge to him made him more willing to embrace it.
“Yeah I think so, you can see how he is around the team, but it's also wanting to be part of that.
"Do you want to walk away from Liverpool and a manager of his calibre and not be part of something? I did the job as best I could and the year after that I don't know what was in his mind.
"Maybe he thought, 'Left-back, that's him done,' so it was a challenge to force my way back into the reckoning in midfield and I managed to do that."
Despite plenty of reports linking him back to his boyhood club Leeds last December, the veteran put pen to paper on a contract extension which sees him commit to the club until the end of the 2021/22 season.
Milner has never hid his admiration for the Yorkshire club and you get the sense that he would love to make a fairytale return one day.
“You never know in football, what's around the corner, but I just want to contribute and win as many trophies as I can for Liverpool and add to the great history here,
“I'm biased, but I think the Premier League will be a better place for Leeds in it, and it will be weird to play against them next season.
“It seems a long time ago since I pulled on that shirt, you look back at photos and see how big the shirts were back then.
"Plenty has changed since then, unfortunately I was part of the team that got relegated and they haven't come back and recovered just yet.
"It would be great to see them back next season and their fans are incredible as well."
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