James Milner open to moving to Glasgow clubs

Liverpool captain James Milner has said that he would be open to moving to either Glasgow Celtic or Glasgow Rangers in the future.

Celtic are currently managed by Brendan Rodgers, the man who brought Milner to Anfield in the summer of 2015, while the midfielder's former Reds and England teammate Steven Gerrard is currently at the helm at Rangers. Milner has started the first three games of the season for Liverpool so any potential move would likely take place further down the line but he admits that he is open to the possibility of moving north to Glasgow.

“I would never say never. You never know what is going to happen," Milner told The Herald Scotland. “I don’t know if Scottish football gets a bad rap because of the England Scotland banter thing but we are surrounded by people who tune into the Old Firm game. The league has been tough for Rangers given what they have gone through. “I don’t have experience of Scottish football myself, but I have seen the players who have come down from Scotland over the years and know players who are playing in Scotland now. I think you can see how many good players there are. “Some of things that are said are probably a bit disrespectful. It deserves respect because of the size of the two Glasgow clubs if nothing else. You can see the buzz around them, the amount of people who want to watch the Old Firm game, the crowds they get, the atmosphere they create. “Speaking to any of the young lads who have come up here to get the experience they all say it is fantastic to come up here and have the opportunity play in games of that size with that pressure and that expectation and learn from it. It is brilliant for them.”

Rodgers attempted to downplay his individual matchup with Gerrard ahead of this weekend's Old Firm and insisted that Gerrard has had a positive impact on his new club.

"I am looking forward to seeing Steven," Rodgers told the club's channel. "He is a good guy, we worked well together at Liverpool. I don't necessarily see it as a dugout battle, I see it as the teams on the field. Whatever coach or manager is there at the time, it is irrespective to me. "It is about looking at them and how they play and preparing the team in order to win the game. That's what I have tried to do in the 11 games against Rangers in my two years here. "So that's the focus really. Try to analyse them the best we can. There is no doubt Steven has made a difference to them and made a change to them, a positive change. "No matter the form, they are always tough games so our notion after Thursday will be to focus on that and be ready for it."