Players - James Milner

James Milner
Birthdate: 4 January 1986
Birthplace: Leeds, England
Other clubs: Leeds United (1996-2004), Swindon Town (loan, 2003), Newcastle United (2004-2008), Aston Villa (loan, 2005-2006), Aston Villa (transfer, 2008-2010), Manchester City (2010-2015, Brighton (2023-)
Signed from: Free transfer
Signed for LFC: 01.07.2015
International debut: 12.08.2009 vs. Netherlands
International caps: 61/1 (6/0 at LFC) - 11.06.20167
Liverpool debut: 09.08.2015
Last appearance: 28.05.2023
Debut goal: 26.09.2015
Last goal: 26.12.2019
Contract expiry: 30.06.2023
Win ratio: 62.05% W:206 D:67 L:59
Games/assists ratio: 7.38
Honours: Champions League 2019, European Super Cup 2019, FIFA Club World Cup 2019, Premier League 2019/20, League Cup 2022, FA Cup 2022
Total games/goals opposite LFC: 24 / 1
League games / goals / assists: 230 / 19 / 26
Total games / goals / assists: 332 / 26 / 45

Player Profile

It is one of football’s myths that top European players are only prepared to switch clubs if the new employer can offer Champions League football. Sometimes that new club’s history and traditions are really important too and that was proved when experienced England international James Milner agreed to join Liverpool in the summer of 2015 as soon as his Manchester City contract had expired at the end of June. Liverpool knew that they would be gaining the services of a ’model professional’ who has never made the headlines for the wrong reasons during a somewhat nomadic career so far.

James Philip Milner was born in a suburb of the Yorkshire city of Leeds so it wasn’t a surprise that his early promise as a footballer was recognised by his local club, Leeds United because he joined their Academy when he was only ten years old. As well as making excellent progress with his club Milner was also called up to represent his country at two different age groups before he had signed his first professional contract. He was still a few weeks short of his 17th birthday when Terry Venables gave him his senior debut in an away match at West Ham United which the visitors won 4-3 with Milner coming on for Jason Wilcox a few minutes from time. Seventeen more Premier League appearances (and two goals) followed by the end of the season but only one of these was from the start.

Leeds, beset by off-the-field problems which caused financial meltdown, were relegated from the top division a year later, a season in which young Milner had a useful loan-spell with Swindon Town (6 appearances, 2 goals) as well as adding thirty Premier League matches to an already-impressive total for a teenager. Despite having signed a five-year contract with Leeds early in 2003 the midfielder agreed a deal of similar length with Newcastle United less than 18 months later. Although used mainly on the left by Leeds he found himself playing mostly on the right under the man who signed him for Newcastle, Bobby Robson, but Robson was succeeded by John Carver (caretaker-manager) and Graeme Souness before Milner had really got settled in the north-east. It was Souness who arranged for Milner to go on loan to Aston Villa in 2005, where he was reunited with a man he had worked under at Leeds, David O’Leary. Villa finished 5th from bottom in 2005/06 and Newcastle only finished marginally higher than that in the next two seasons on his return to St James' Park as Milner made 91 more Premier League appearances in those three seasons.

After playing the full 90 minutes in Newcastle’s opening two league fixtures of 2008/09 Milner returned to Villa Park, this time on a permanent deal with a four-year contract. Oddly, something similar happened just two years later because after playing in Villa’s opening fixture of 2010/11 he was on the move again, this time to Manchester City, and his City debut came in a comfortable 3-0 home win over Liverpool. Milner missed very few first-team matches for Manchester City in almost five seasons and for most of that time, he was a regular in the senior England squad as well. Throughout his career, he has received acclaim not only for his prowess as a footballer but also for the way he conducts himself as a human being. He was immediately appointed vice-captain and took on the mantle of Liverpool's penalty taker in 2015/16. a consistent performer, he was mainly used on the right of midfield and ended the season with 7 goals from 42 appearances. He was called up to England's Euro 2016 squad by Roy Hodgson but after playing just three minutes in the tournament retired from international football to concentrate on his club career.

For much of 2016/17 Milner was used as a left-back and prior to the start of the following season, there was some scoffing when Jürgen Klopp announced that he was a new midfield signing. He defied critics though and made a record-breaking number of assists as Liverpool reached the Champions League final. 2018/19 was more of the same as Milner started 31 games in all competitions and came off the bench fourteen times, playing across the midfield and at full-back. He was the preferred penalty taker when on the pitch, holding his nerve to score kicks at crucial stages of away games at Fulham and Cardiff as the season drew to a close. He also came off the bench after an hour of the Champions League final. During the 2019/20 title winning season Milner remained in top form, scoring some crucial spot kicks and earning a new two year deal. During 2020/21 Milner was used less frequently, with fifteen of his 26 league games coming as a substitute. It was also the first goalless season of his career. On the final day of the season against Crystal Palace, he came off the bench with twelve minutes remaining for his 250th Red appearance. There were 10,000 fans allowed into this game, the highest allowed at Anfield all season due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

On the opening day of 2021/22 Milner captained the side at Norwich on the first day of the season. There was a full house at Carrow Road as Liverpool won 3-0, and Milner was delighted, telling Liverpoolfc.com "It’s incredible. I remember the first few times I stepped out when there was nobody there and coming out of the tunnel it was the first time it really hit you because normally when you step out of the tunnel you either get the roar or booed or something, anything would have done, but it was just quiet and that’s what really hit you. But having our fans here today singing all the way through and seeing them at the end, amazing to have them back and obviously it will be special next week at Anfield as well. We’ve missed them and hopefully we can keep putting in performances and getting results like today for them.”

Milner remained as fit as ever and stayed at Liverpool for 2022/23. 24 of his 31 Premier League appearances were as a substitute but despite being 37 years old it was reported that manager Jurgen Klopp was keen for him to stay on longer. No new deal was forthcoming from the club however and he left at the end of the season, joining Brighton.

Appearances per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 230 13 17 68 4 332
2015-2016 28 1 4 12 0 45
2016-2017 36 0 4 0 0 40
2017-2018 32 2 0 13 0 47
2018-2019 31 1 1 12 0 45
2019-2020 22 2 2 9 2 37
2020-2021 26 2 1 6 1 36
2021-2022 24 3 4 8 0 39
2022-2023 31 2 1 8 1 43
A more detailed look at the player's appearances
Apps Minutes Opponent
20 1026 Chelsea
19 1094 Manchester City
15 877 Southampton
14 860 Arsenal
14 810 Everton
13 920 Tottenham
13 830 Manchester United
13 769 Leicester City
13 643 West Ham United
12 747 Crystal Palace
12 536 Newcastle United
10 689 Bournemouth
10 348 Wolves
9 506 Watford
9 438 Brighton & Hove Albion
8 584 Stoke City
7 407 Aston Villa
7 355 Burnley
6 434 Porto
6 415 Napoli
6 371 Norwich City
5 385 WBA
5 140 Fulham
5 131 Leeds United
4 285 Swansea City
4 233 Real Madrid
4 114 Sheffield United
3 257 Huddersfield Town
3 226 Sunderland
3 186 Villarreal
3 111 Atletico Madrid
3 109 Ajax
3 55 Cardiff City
2 180 Roma
2 180 Borussia Dortmund
2 180 NK Maribor
2 180 Genk
2 176 Middlesbrough
2 174 Barcelona
2 173 Hull City
2 170 Augsburg
2 167 Paris St Germain
2 151 Rubin
2 117 Sevilla
2 115 Atalanta
2 101 Bayern Munich
2 71 Nottingham Forest
2 59 Benfica
2 47 Hoffenheim
2 43 FC Salzburg
2 21 Rangers
2 21 Brentford
1 120 Carlisle United
1 90 Red Star Belgrade
1 90 Bordeaux
1 90 MK Dons
1 90 Burton Albion
1 90 Midtjylland
1 74 CF Monterrey
1 60 Sion
1 45 Spartak Moscow
1 20 Flamengo
1 8 Red Bull Leipzig
1 6 AC Milan
1 4 Inter Milan
Total Started/substitutions
202 Started
40 On the bench
130 Substitute
67 Substituted
Total Venue
162 Away
162 Home
8 Neutral
Total Competition
230 Premier League
55 Champions League
17 League Cup
13 FA Cup
12 Europa League
2 World Club Championship
2 Community Shield
1 European Super Cup
Total W D L Win % Manager
323 202 64 57 62.5% Jürgen Klopp
9 4 3 2 44.4% Brendan Rodgers
Goals per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 19 1 2 4 0 26
2015-2016 5 0 0 2 0 7
2016-2017 7 0 0 0 0 7
2017-2018 0 1 0 0 0 1
2018-2019 5 0 0 2 0 7
2019-2020 2 0 2 0 0 4
2020-2021 0 0 0 0 0 0
2021-2022 0 0 0 0 0 0
2022-2023 0 0 0 0 0 0
A more detailed look at the player's goalscoring
Milestone Appearances
# Date Against Stadium Competition
1 09.08.2015 Stoke City Britannia St. League
50 16.09.2016 Chelsea Stamford Bridge League
100 21.11.2017 Sevilla Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium Europe
150 28.11.2018 Paris St Germain Parc des Princes Europe
200 18.12.2019 CF Monterrey Khalifa International Stadium Other
250 23.05.2021 Crystal Palace Anfield League
300 04.10.2022 Rangers Anfield Europe
Milestone Goals
# Minute Date Against Stadium Competition
1 2 26.09.2015 Aston Villa Anfield League
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By Oliver Holt for the Mail on Sunday. Published: 25 May 2019.

James Milner penalty and Sadio Mane late breakaway enough for Liverpool

Other Clubs
Club Season Club rank League apps League goals Total apps Total goals
Leeds United 2002-2003 Premier League 18 2 22 2
Leeds United 2003-2004 Premier League 30 3 32 3
Swindon Town 2003-2004 League 1 6 2 6 2
Newcastle United 2004-2005 Premier League 25 1 44 2
Newcastle United 2005-2006 Premier League 3 0 7 2
Aston Villa 2005-2006 Premier League 27 1 33 3
Newcastle United 2006-2007 Premier League 35 3 53 4
Newcastle United 2007-2008 Premier League 29 2 32 3
Newcastle United 2008-2009 Premier League 2 0 3 1
Aston Villa 2008-2009 Premier League 36 3 43 6
Aston Villa 2009-2010 Premier League 36 7 49 12
Aston Villa 2010-2011 Premier League 1 1 1 1
Manchester City 2010-2011 Premier League 32 0 41 1
Manchester City 2011-2012 Premier League 26 3 36 3
Manchester City 2012-2013 Premier League 26 4 36 4
Manchester City 2013-2014 Premier League 31 1 44 2
Manchester City 2014-2015 Premier League 32 5 45 8
Total 395 38 527 59