Kenny Miller has wanted to play in Major League Soccer for a while.
As Vancouver Whitecaps unveiled Miller as their third Designated Player this morning, the Scottish striker told reporters that playing in MLS was <i>"something I've definitely wanted to do at some point of my career"</i> and that he's talked to his wife and agent about it for a couple of years now.
Having just moved to Cardiff City last summer, he still had a year to go on his contract there, but Miller revealed that the only move that would have interested him, was one to MLS.
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After speaking to Barry Robson about his move here, he got his dream and the Caps got their man.
Miller has played in North America before. He was part of Celtic’s tour in 2006, that saw them play in Boston, New York and Washington, and then in 2007 when they took on Chicago Fire and also were the opponents for the MLS All Star Game in Colorado, where Miller featured as a second half sub.
Most recently he played in Scotland’s 5-1 thrashing by the US in Jacksonville in May, but we don't like to talk about that around these parts.
He may be a little familiar with the States, but he told us that wasn’t the case with north of the border. What did he know about Vancouver before coming here?
<i>"I've never been to Canada or Vancouver, but every single person that I spoke to in regards to coming here before I came, the first thing they said was what an amazing place to go and live. You'll enjoy it, you'll love the city.
Anybody that had any comments to make on the city, it was all positive.
Also my agent's been here a few times as well and he's filled me in with how good a place it is to live
My mind was pretty made up, there was no' really any decision to make or any concern about moving here."</i>
Miller has had a spell overseas before, spending just under six months in Turkey at Bursaspor.
It’s never easy making the decision to move abroad, especially for the first time, and Kenny found it hard to settle, not helped by the fact that his wife and young daughter could not be over there with him for the whole time.
Did his experience in Turkey not make him wary of looking at another overseas move and coming here?
<i>"No, not at all. It's a far different move to Bursaspor from where I was.
Obviously there's a few friendly faces out here already. I've played with both Carl Robinson and Paul Ritchie at some stage of my career.
Barry Robson making the step just a few months before me was always going to make the move a lot easier and far more easier to settle into something that both myself and my wife have talked about and we're both thoroughly looking forward to it."</i>
He won’t have too much trouble settling in.
Barry Robson has described his initial move here as a bit of a <i>"culture shock"</i>, but there are a lot of similarities between Vancouver/BC and Scotland and I found it very easy to adjust when I made the move over five years ago.
Having familiar faces and accents around him, with his good friend Robson and the management team of Rennie and Ritchie, will help him settle in here a lot quicker.
And that can only be good news for the Whitecaps and the fans, who are keen to see the goals tally increase.
As much as Kenny Miller <i>"would love to get in"</i> to the game on Wednesday, he won’t feature in the gameday eighteen for the match against LA, but may feature at some point on Sunday against San Jose.
Miller knows he still has to work on his fitness to be up to what is going to be immediately expected of him.
He is coming to the Caps following the longest close season of his career, so fans cannot expect him to be at the top of his game right away. That won’t stop some judging him immediately none the less.
Time and patience is the key here to getting the best Kenny Miller on the park that we can:
<i>"It's going to take just a little bit of time and maybe just a little bit of careful thought rather than just rush in and get in as soon as I can, which I would love to do, but I've got to try and play it clever and play when I'm ready to play."</i>
When he does hit his stride, he is going to be a force to be reckoned with in MLS, and since that is likely to come in time for the playoffs, this could be a very good bit of business indeed for the Caps.
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