Aston Villa midfielder James Milner has revealed how Graeme Souness' remarks at Newcastle was among the setbacks making him a stronger player mentally.
The 23-year-old England Under-21 star played for his beloved Leeds when they imploded, then moved to St James' Park where boss Souness said he would not be "buying a team of James Milners".
"It's not an ideal thing for your manager to say," Milner said.
"The mentality from me was to prove him wrong, that is all you can do as a player. It's down to you to prove your ability and show those people who don't rate you that they are wrong.
"You remember the lows more than the highs I suppose and it is how you learn from those."
Milner, meanwhile, is confident that Villa will maintain their stability despite losing Gareth Barry to Manchester City, adding: "I'm sure the manager will make the right signings."
Comment 1 - 8 of 8
MON what the hell are you waiting for?? the scraps??? start signing and building a team now so they players get to know one another properly!!!!!!!!!! HOW FRUSTRATING BEEN A VILLA FAN
we need players fast!!!6 at least!
Villa WON'T attract World Class players, we don't have the pedigree right now. Long term history we have, but not recent history - no one joins a team because they won the European Cup nearly 30 years ago.
I'd admit I'm a little dissapointed at the lack of signings, but sometimes these things can take time, especially when you have to persuade players to join you, instead of them jumping at the chance to join you.
Added into the fact that, thanks to Real Madrid the transfer market is bonkers at the moment and players are making rediculous wage demands, you can see why unless you're the likes of Man Utd, Barcelona or Madrid, signing quality players is hard.
Certainly if we start the season with no new faces, then questions will have to be asked about MON's ability to sign players.
where are the signings of the world class players??? sorry to say MON aint got a clue abt signing proven big names, signing some 17yr old kid aint gonna make us compete with the big 4, we need people at their peak now not in 5yrs time, with ashley young off to chelsea or real marid for 25million
Not everyone can be Ronaldo Raimo K, your probably a Man U fan from Southend, turd.
average joe
Raimo K. Totally disagree..... what is that statement based on? Milner does not have the flair or goalscoring ability of some wingers however he is a great team player with tremendous workrate who could actually turn into a top class right back potentially. Fabio Capello said he is part of the future of the Senior England Football Team..... and he is a pretty decent judge of a player.
james milner is rubbish. good enough for Villa though
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account