Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Phil Hay has dashed any hopes Leeds fans might have of signing James Milner.
The former Leeds player is out of contract in the summer and fans were hoping that the midfielder would return to where his career started.
However, Phil Hay had a very direct message to one fan who asked whether it was just a dream or if there was a chance it could happen.
Writing on his personal Twitter page on Wednesday night Hay said, “No, not happening”.
no, not happening.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) May 29, 2019
OPINION
It’s been one of the most enduring rumours from Leeds fans – that they will bring James Milner back to Elland Road. The stars seemed to be aligning – Leeds would win promotion and play in the Premier League in their centenary year; Milner was out of contract and would come back to Leeds where he started his career. However, Leeds didn’t win promotion and even if they had it would have been a stretch for Milner to take a cut from his reported £140k-a-week wages, to a level that would work for Leeds. He was never dropping down to the Championship at this point in his career and Hay has finally put the flame out once and for all. Leeds will be bringing new faces in but they’ve been linked with more realistic targets, and Andrea Radrizzani has said that they will look to make good use of the loan system and bring in Premier League players. Aston Villa got promoted with the help of loan players like Tammy Abraham and Tyrone Mings. That’s the route that Leeds will be looking to take this summer. And no, that doesn’t include a loan move for James Milner.