And former Newcastle midfielder Jamie Miley tells of his Magpies education after joining Hartlepool.
AUDACIOUS MOVE FOR SUNDERLAND STRIKER
Jayden Danns turned down Hull City and Blackburn Rovers to join Sunderland on deadline day – and there was also an audacious League One attempt to sign the striker.
Rotherham United boss Steve Evans has revealed the Millers were keen on Danns last month, though admitted they were “probably aiming a bit high”.
Danns and Celtic youngster Johnny Kenny were leading Rotherham targets, claims Evans, with a move for the latter falling through after the Scottish champions failed in their own quest to sign a striker.
“We tried on two striker fronts, one early in the window, one all the way through the window,” said Evans this week in conversation with the Rotherham Advertiser.
“One went off to Sunderland and one didn’t move at all. We were disappointed about that.
“We’d have loved to have had Johnny. We’d have loved to have had the boy, Danns. We were probably aiming a bit high in the sky with that one.
“They were the type of players we were trying to attract. At one stage, it looked like Johnny was coming . It fell through very late on.”
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LIVERPOOL’S BEN DOAK PLAN
On the subject of Liverpool’s youngsters, the Premier League leaders are delighted that Ben Doak is seeing out the season at Middlesbrough.
The winger is currently sidelined with a thigh injury but once he’s back fit will play a starring role once more for Boro, as was the case in the first half of the campaign.
Doak was the subject of transfer interest from Premier League clubs Crystal Palace and Ipswich last month but Liverpool rejected their permanent bids for the Scotland international.
Liverpool’s plan, according to the Athletic this week, is for Doak to return to Merseyside in the summer “ready to stake a claim for inclusion in Arne Slot’s squad”.
The Athletic’s James Pearce also revealed that Fenway Sports Group’s chief executive of football Michael Edwards and Liverpool’s technical director Julian Ward visited Rockliffe in December, when they sat down with Doak, Michael Carrick and Jonathan Woodgate to discuss the winger’s progress at Boro so far.
All parties are delighted with the way the loan has so far played out. Hopefully for Boro’s sake, he’s back fit sooner rather than later.
JAMIE MILEY’S NEWCASTLE EDUCATION
It’s been a rather eventful start to life at Hartlepool United for Jamie Miley.
A stoppage time equaliser on his debut at Braintree was followed by the news just 48 hours later than boss Lennie Lawrence was stepping back and being replaced by Anthony Limbrick.
Miley joined Pools on a permanent deal in the hope of kicking on, and will look to put his Newcastle education and experience to good use.
The 21-year-old trained with the first team during his time at Newcastle, meaning he got to learn from the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Joelinton.
“I’ve taken massive amounts from all of them,” he told the Hartlepool Mail.
“It’s been a privilege to train and play with some top, top midfielders. How they train, how they think about the game and how they are with the ball at their feet, it’s really impressive and my time in the summer was a real learning curve.
“Even in training, you learn loads. Especially under Eddie Howe, where there was so much attention to detail. From being on the ball to little things off the ball, for example when and how to press, I’ve learned a lot.”
