Lee Bowyer has talked up the potential of Leeds United winger Amari Miller following their time together at Birmingham City. Bowyer was the manager who handed Miller his senior debut at the Blues and a further four appearances, including two starts in the Championship.
Birmingham were in serious financial trouble at the time of Miller's breakthrough into the first team, and in the summer that followed Leeds snapped him up for around £1 million. But it has not been an easy time at Elland Road for Miller; he has not enjoyed anywhere near the same success as other academy signings and is still yet to make his first senior appearance for the club.
Speaking on talkSPORT, former Leeds midfielder Bowyer opened up on his reasons behind handing Miller first team opportunities in difficult circumstances, and revealed his potential was something he spotted early on.
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He said: "Everything I set out to do, I achieved and I did what I said I'd do for the football club. I gave a lot of young players opportunities, 16 and 17 year old kids - QPR at home I had two 17 year olds starting. It might've been a bit early, but it's where we were at at the time.
"When we were fighting to stay in the division, there was a young lad there - Amari Miller. He's a 17-year-old, under difficult circumstances I still gave him a few minutes here and there. I could see the potential he had. That summer we sold him to Leeds, I'd only been there five minutes. They sold him and brought a £1m into the club, or whatever it was."
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