During the summer transfer window, there were rumors linking James Milner to Liverpool but a deal could never be completed as the English midfielder remained at the Etihad Stadium as a player of Manchester City but his future with the club of Manuel Pellegrini is not looking promising.

The 3 opening matches of the season in the Premier League of Manchester City have seen Milner only being featured in 1 match as he arrived to the pitch as a substitute player for just a few minutes during City’s game against Newcastle United.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for James Milner to secure a starting role in the squad of Pellegrini as the English midfielder will have to cope against the likes of: Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri, Jesus Navas, David Silva and Fernando in order to even get a chance of playing with the Premier League club.

James Milner was also a summer target for Arsenal as the English player can not only play in the center of the midfield but also as a right-back whenever it may be needed and Arsenal lost their star right-back player after Bacary Sagna was released to Manchester City and Arsene Wenger started taking into consideration signing Milner as the player that could fill in the gap left by the Frenchman.

Now that the summer transfer window has been closed and Milner did not make a move to any club he will have to settle on having a place on the sidelines of the club unless he makes a serious improvement in this season and can snatch a spot ahead of his teammates.

A few years ago when Milner was a player of Aston Villa, he was utilized on a number of occasions down the wings and as an emergency right-back and this is why Wenger was seriously taking into consideration signing him but a deal could never be agreed.

Javier Mascherano was a force to reckon with in the Argentina national team at the World Cup 2014. He was a major reason behind the team reaching the final of the competition. He almost single-handedly helped Argentina keep the Dutch at bay in the semifinals. The Latin American team eventually won the match on penalties to play against Germany in the final. Argentina’s hopes of winning the first World Cup title since the 1986 win were dashed after a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Joachim Loew’s team.

Argentina failed to create many opportunities in the match, while the goal from Mario Gotze was enough to seal the victory. After the match, a very disappointed Mascherano spoke about having to bear the scars of failure for the rest of his life. Lionel Messi was named as the player tournament, but he was extremely dejected while picking up the award. The same was the case with every other Argentina player and fan. Mascherano would have joined the elite band of players to have lifted every major title at club and international level.

As it is, Argentina may have to wait another four years before they can dream of winning the title. Diego Maradona was part of the team that won the title in 1986.

“Unfortunately the pain will be there for life because this was our chance. It is difficult to explain. It escaped from us at the last minute, we did everything to try and win. We had the best chances until we ran out of gas. The pain is immense because we wanted to take the World Cup back to Argentina but we gave everything. We are empty – we gave what we had and we are sorry for ourselves, for the people that came here and for the people that are in Argentina,” said Mascherano.