, James Milner reveals scenario where he would rejoin Leeds United

James Milner reveals scenario where he would rejoin Leeds United

It was the club where his football journey began and despite leaving 15 years ago it is clear that James Milner still have a soft spot for his boyhood club.

The 33-year-old journeyman was born in Leeds and joined the club’s academy in 1996. When he was 16 he made his first team debut for the club he had supported since he was a child but when Newcastle United came calling in 2004 Milner made the move to Tyneside.

Since then, the midfielder, who has made over 500 club appearances, has won the Premier League three times with Manchester City and the Champions League with current club Liverpool.

His career has been illustrious and he is still making regular appearances for the Reds – but could he be lured back to Elland Road in the near future?

In his new book ‘Ask a Footballer: My Guide to Kicking a Ball About’, Milner says he would rejoin Leeds – but only if the club desperately needed him back in the ranks at Elland Road, according to Leeds Live.

In the book, Milner says he regrets not playing for Leeds longer and when asked about a return to the club in a Q&A in the book, this is his response: “I get asked this all the time. Any time I bump into a Leeds fan – or even my mates back home – it’s always, ‘When are you coming back? When are you coming home?’

“It’s a really hard question to answer because it’s all totally hypothetical. There has never been a decision for me to make.

“They’ve never come in for me in the past and they might not do so in future. I’m playing for a great team who have just won the Champions League.

“Am I happy at Liverpool? Absolutely. About Leeds, all I can really say is that I still love the club and I still love the fans.

“It’s a regret that I didn’t play for Leeds longer. I didn’t want to leave and I felt like I was only really getting started at the club, but it was an unfortunate time for me to be coming through at Leeds.

“They had been in the Champions League semi-final in 2001, but by the time I made my debut 18 months later, a lot of players had been sold and the club was going into a decline.

“I’ll never forget how brilliant the fans were with us the day we were relegated in 2004, after what was a pretty horrible couple of years for Leeds, and they’ve been fantastic throughout the 15 years since, standing by the team through thick and thin.

“When I see the atmosphere at Elland Road and I hear the crowd, it makes me proud.

“The fan relationship changes when you’re a professional player and you move on to different clubs, but I still follow them and look out for their scores every weekend.

“Watching Take Us Home, you get a real feeling for how desperate everyone is for the club to get back to the Premier League, where it belongs.

“To go back and play for my hometown club again would be amazing in so many different ways.

“But at the same time, they say ‘Never go back,’ don’t they? What happens if you go back and it isn’t the fairy-tale finish? Would it be the right thing for me? Would it be the right thing for them?

“There would be so many things to weigh up – not just for myself or my family, but for Leeds.

“If I was being released by another club, would they want me? It would be pointless for them and for me if I wasn’t needed at the time and it was just some kind of nostalgia trip.

“You can probably tell from what I’m saying that I love the club, but I also love playing for Liverpool and I want to play at the highest level for as long as I can.

“If my time at Liverpool came to an end and I was going to go somewhere else and Leeds were one of the clubs that were interested in me, then that would be a very exciting option for all the reasons I mention.

“But they might not be interested. I might look abroad. Something else could crop up that I’ve never even thought of. It is a nice idea, but I can’t say what the future will hold.”

Milner’s book ‘Ask A Footballer’ is on sale from October 31, 2019.

 

 

 

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