James Milner’s recent form for club and country has not gone unnoticed as he has been listed as the fifth most in-form player heading to the Euro 2016 this summer.
Uefa’s latest SOCAR Player Barometer has been tracking the form of every player going to the Euros, with Cristiano Ronaldo inevitably topping the list.
The Portgual international was followed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, of Sweden, and Antoine Griezmann, of Atletico Madrid and France. Having been included in Roy Hodgson’s final 23-man England squad for Euro 2016, Milner is fifth by virtue of his seven assists in four games over the middle period of April. Two of these came during Liverpool’s Europa League campaign, in which they finished runners-up to Sevilla.
The Liverpool vice-captain has since fallen beneath West Ham and France playmaker Dimitri Payet.
Milner finished as the Premier League’s fourth-highest assist provider for the 2015/2016 season with 11, more than Kevin De Bruyne (nine), Cesc Fabregas (seven) and Aaron Ramsey (four), all creative midfielders who will also be going to France.
The England midfielder had been consistently in fourth place, until he was overtaken by Payet on May 30, who is currently the highest ranked Premier League player. Milner’s best ranking so far has been third, which was achieved on 27 May.
The rest of the top 10 is completed by Champions league finalists Saúl Ñíguez, Koke, Sergio Ramos, Toni Kroos and Juanfran as well as Slovakian Marek Hamšík. Dele Alli is England’s next top-ranked player, at 15th, with Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Eric Dier, Ryan Bertrand and Adam Lallana also making the top 50.
0 Comments