James Milner; £165,000 P/W

[Tj hooker]

It's official he signs on the 1st of July

[JermainePennant]

Top signing especially for free, if he is to be our starter in cm I hope he takes Hendersons place and we bring in another dm.

[ChrisA]

James Milner; £165,000 P/W

 

Semantics mate.

 

You could just as easiy have said ..

 

James Milner; Signs for free.

 

It's all about the Bosman!

 

And Milner's no mug. He's a solid premiership level midfielder,  perpetually underrated. I reckon he'll do ok here.

 

Anyone seen the 'Boring James Milner' twitter account. :lol:

 

https://twitter.com/boringmilner

 

 

 

[LFC 6 Times]

A good signing depending on what proceeds him. We need a lot of guile at the top end of the pitch.

[FanchesterCity]

 

 

Anyone seen the 'Boring James Milner' twitter account. :lol:

 

https://twitter.com/boringmilner

 

Some of it's very witty indeed.

[Jhinge Machha]

"James Milner created more chances than Juan Mata this season, recorded more assists than Mesut Ozil & scored more goals than Cesc Fabregas. "

 

Think he is a decent signing as long as he isnt the best signing we make

[Hades]

"James Milner created more chances than Juan Mata this season, recorded more assists than Mesut Ozil & scored more goals than Cesc Fabregas. "

 

Think he is a decent signing as long as he isnt the best signing we make

Pity he's been signed for central midfield then.

[Phoenix]

"James Milner created more chances than Juan Mata this season, recorded more assists than Mesut Ozil & scored more goals than Cesc Fabregas. "

 

Think he is a decent signing as long as he isnt the best signing we make

Shame he scored half the number of goals  Juan Mata scored, played a third more games than Ozil.

 

He is a middle of the road player. 150k a week. Should have just offered that to Sanchez last summer plus whatever they were offering them,

 

Stats can show whatever they want 

[Hades]

I loathe him already.

[Red House]

Welcome to the club new right wing-back!

[Stickman]

Can't wait to start booing him............

 

Would have been a great signing years ago when we had the likes of Alonso and Gerrard at their peak but now...just meh...he's the sort of player who needs great midfielders around him to shine.

[Dr Nowt]

Can't wait to hate every second of next season, from the first miskick to the retards walking round with their ugly kids at the end.

 

#footie

[Strontium]

Hasn't done a fucking thing in a red shirt. Get rid.

[Hades]

He will be a signing that "excites the fans".

[Block109'er]

Yeah he's a decent player, even I'm not negative enough to slag this one off too much.

[Lario]

I'm fucking chuffed to get Milner.

[chrisbonnie]

He's just meh

[Saucepan]

Good player, good signing.

[Paco]

Didnt want to go dowm to that london

[Paco]

James Milner sought assurances from Liverpool that Brendan Rodgers would remain as manager before agreeing to join on a free transfer. The Manchester City midfielder’s move was confirmed on Thursday and he could soon be followed into Anfield by Danny Ings.

 

Brendan Rodgers to remain at Liverpool after positive talks with club officials

 

 

 

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Milner has been a transfer target for Rodgers since last summer when he refused City’s offer of a contract extension worth up to £160,000-a-week.

 

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The England international has agreed terms worth in the region of £150,000-a-week atLiverpool and will officially become their player on 1 July.

 

The lure of more regular first-team football, and in his preferred central midfield position, was a key factor in the 29-year-old’s decision to leave the Etihad Stadium after five years and to choose Liverpool over interest from Arsenal. That prospect appeared in jeopardy when Rodgers came under pressure following a dismal end to the season and faced a review with the club chairman Tom Werner and the Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon.

 

But, with the manager retaining the support of the club hierarchy after this week’s review, Milner subsequently agreed toLiverpool’s terms in principle. The acquisition of Milner represents an important early step in Rodgers’ summer rebuilding plans with the manager keen to add more Premier League experience to the squad. Steven Gerrard’s departure for LA Galaxy has created a void in midfield – and potentially for the captaincy, with Milner a possible challenger to the current vice-captain Jordan Henderson for the role – and Liverpool are also closing in on the Burnley striker Ings.

 

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The 22-year-old is also out of contract on 1 July but will command a compensation fee of around £5m-£6m as he is under 24. His future is expected to be decided before his involvement in England’s Under-21 European Championship campaign.

 

Milner had become frustrated with what he perceived as a peripheral role at City, although the manager Manuel Pellegrini gave him more starts in the Premier League and Champions League last season than during the 2013-14 campaign.

 

Martin Skrtel has cast doubt on his Liverpool future by branding their contract offer “unacceptable” and claiming it is the kind of deal given to older players with fitness problems.

 

The Slovakia international will enter the final 12 months of his Liverpool contract this summer having resisted the club’s offer of an extension for several months. In an interview with the Slovakian media outlet Aktualne, the 30-year-old confirmed he has been asked to sign an incentivised deal that is dependent on playing a high percentage of matches. Skrtel started 48 of Liverpool’s 58 matches last season having established himself as Rodgers’ first choice central defender but insists the terms on offer do not reflect his contribution to the team.

 

“I am still waiting for the new contract,” said the defender, who is currently preparing for Slovakia’s European Championship qualifier against Macedonia.

 

When asked if the problem was the contract being appearance-linked, Skrtel replied: “Sure. I think a contract like this is offered to players who are much older than me or to players who have had some health complications.

 

“But I feel good and not so old to sign this contract. Also I think my health is okay. The contract offered is unacceptable for me, this is the reason why I didn’t sign it.

 

“I still have a contract running with the club. There was some speculation about interest from other clubs but that is not coming from me. Now I am with the national team and will be going on holiday after that.”

[Megadrive Man]

If he really is on £150k a week that's a staggering amount and significantly, a third more than we have given Henderson, and double the amount Coutinho is on.

[xerxes]

If he really is on £150k a week that's a staggering amount and significantly, a third more than we have given Henderson, and double the amount Coutinho is on.

It's the price of fish, and Milner has considerably more Pl experience, and has won far more, than the others you mention.

[Jose Jones]

It's the price of fish, and Milner has considerably more Pl experience, and has won far more, than the others you mention.

 

Who are both better than him.

[billypilgrimnz]

The worrying thing is, we've decided to spend that much on him and now we are going to play him in a spot he hardly ever played for City (apparently; correct me if I'm wrong). But it's typical of us; by a certain player who impresses in a certain role, and then employ him in a totally different one because of course, why not?

[Jose Jones]

The worrying thing is, we've decided to spend that much on him and now we are going to play him in a spot he hardly ever played for City (apparently; correct me if I'm wrong). But it's typical of us; by a certain player who impresses in a certain role, and then employ him in a totally different one because of course, why not?

 

I think attacking centre midfield is probably Milner's best position these days as he's good at give and go passes and moving into space, but isn't skilful or quick enough to beat players regularly as a winger and doesn't score enough if he was playing as one of a front three.

 

Problem is that is exactly what Henderson does and Hendo has a better range of passing, and creates more.  You could play both Henderson and Milner together in midfield, but then we will need a top notch defensive/play dictating midfielder behind them.  That could maybe be Can, but Rodgers won't seem to try him there.  If not, then we'll need to get someone else.

 

Also an issue for me is that I would rather build around Coutinho than an axis of Henderson and Milner.  So we could go for a 442 diamond with Can (or new player) sitting behind Hendo and Milner, then Coutinho at the tip of the diamond behind two strikers.  We would obviously then need to sign at least one and probably two really good strikers.  We also wouldn't be getting any use out of Sterling (if we keep him), Lallana, Ibe or Markovic in this formation so we might as well sell two of them.

 

If we are going 433 because we have lots of wingers and no strikers, then I would prefer to have Coutinho as the central attacking midfielder with two sitting midfielders behind him.  If we try and play Henderson and Milner together there we will get killed as neither of them are any good at protecting the defence.  So we'd need to either hope Can develops massively quickly, or better, get in a top quality midfielder to play there.

In this formation Milner would then be on the bench.

 

So the Milner signing only really makes sense for me if we're going to clear out most of our wingers, or if we're going to be playing the wrong players in the wrong positions again.  Or because he's a decent player available on a free so we just got him in anyway without really thinking about it.