Clinton Morrison heaped praise on Liverpool midfielder James Milner and shared it was strange that he hadn’t been handed a new contract yet.
The Sky Sports pundit was asked about Milner revealing that he hadn’t “heard anything” from the Reds about his future, as quoted by the Daily Mail, since his representatives spoke to the club last year, even though he has only 12 months left on his deal.
Morrison responded by sharing it was a strange situation for the Reds midfielder to be in as despite being 33-years-old, Milner was still one of the fittest players at Anfield.
“It’s a strange decision and I don’t agree with it,” said the Sky pundit, as quoted by talkSPORT.
“When you get to a certain age, if you’re still delivering on a regular basis then you’re entitled to earn that contract.
“He’s 33, and look at how many games Milner played last season – he’s still one of the fittest around.
“Is he one of the fittest at Liverpool? I can guarantee you in all the testing, James Milner will win everything when it comes to weights, running and covering the miles on the pitch. I can guarantee you on a matchday he probably does the most running out of all the players.
“I bet if you speak to Jurgen Klopp, he would say get the deal done as a soon as possible, it’s the hierarchy.”
Morrison then went on to make clear that he thought due to Milner being a special player who Jurgen Klopp clearly trusted, the Reds would sort out his contract situation.
“He’s a special player,” added Morrison.
“He’s technically really good on the ball and you need players like James Milner who are going to do the hard work and let those special players create stuff and open it up.
“He’ll probably play a lot of games this season, Klopp trusts him and he produces.
“I think it will be sorted out, but why is it taking so long?”
OPINION
Milner is a vital cog in the Reds’ machine, so why haven’t Liverpool moved quickly to tie him down? While the midfielder is the wrong side of 30, he shows no signs of slowing down. After all, not only did Milner feature 45 times across all competitions last season but once again he won the club’s gruelling pre-season lactate test. While normally clubs are understandably cautious about extending an ageing player’s contract, when you consider that Milner is like Klopp’s very own Benjamin Button, surely an exception can be made. It’s also worth pointing out that Milner didn’t just rack up lots of appearances in his latest campaign because Klopp had no one else to turned to, he played a lot because he impressed. In his 2018/19 league campaign, Milner achieved a pass success rate of 84.6%, won one Man of the Match award, scored five goals and assisted four across his 31 league outings (Source:WhoScored). So while the Reds’ hierarchy may be waiting to see how Milner does in his upcoming campaign, that’s a silly risk to take as the midfielder has already earned himself a new deal based on his performances.
