That’s it, then – after 24 years, James Milner has called a close to his iconic footballing career at the age of 40, being one of the most important players in Premier League history.
Making his Premier League debut all the way back in 2002 for Leeds United, his journey ended at Brighton, following three successful seasons with the Seagulls.
Today, we’ll take a look back at five of the best moments of his career. A highly-decorated and long-lasting footballer, we were spoiled for choice in this list – what are your favourite moments from Milner’s Premier League legacy?
Winning his first Premier League title
Ok, Milner definitely wasn’t the star of the show in this case – that would be Sergio Aguero, who scored perhaps the most famous goal in Premier League history to secure Manchester City’s first-ever Premier League title. Nevertheless, Milner’s contributions in the Sky Blues’ legendary 2011/12 season shouldn’t be overlooked.
By this time, City’s squad was absolutely teeming with world-class quality, but Milner managed to rack up 26 Premier League appearances for them that season nonetheless.
Scoring three goals and notching up five assists, Milner certainly played his part – even if he didn’t play in that game against QPR.
Winning the Champions League
Making the jump from City to Liverpool in 2015, Milner’s career looked to be on a downward trajectory in the mid 2010s. Having retired from international service in 2016, people had begun to write him off – they couldn’t have been more wrong.
In 2019, Milner won the biggest prize in club football, adding the coveted Champions League trophy to his already-extensive list of honours.
Along the way, Liverpool defeated Barcelona in perhaps the most iconic comeback in football history, overcoming a deficit of three goals to win 4-0 in the second leg at Anfield.
Breaking the Champions League assists record
But that’s not the only thing that Milner achieved in Champions League. In 2017/18, he also broke the record for the number of assists in the competition during a single season – a record that stands to this day.
In doing so, he beat out the likes of Wayne Rooney in 2013/14 and Neymar in 2016/17, both of whom notched up eight assists in those respective seasons – furthermore, he also did it in fewer minutes.
While Liverpool were unable to win the Champions League in 2018, they came incredibly close, losing out to Real Madrid in the final.
Guiding Liverpool to their first Premier League trophy
The Champions League might be club football’s top prize, but this arguably meant more to Liverpool fans. Being one of the world’s biggest clubs, they were often subjected to ridicule due to their inability to win the Premier League.
In 2019/20, this finally changed. Under the stewardship of Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool dominated the competition to win their first Premier League title in style. It wasn’t just their first Premier League title – it was their first league title after 30 years of waiting.
Sadly, injuries curtailed large portions of the 2019/20 campaign for him, but he was still able to captain the squad on the last day of the season.
Breaking the Premier League appearances record
Milner has always been known as a team player. However, one shouldn’t overlook his individual achievements – and this one is the greatest of the lot.
On February 21, 2026, Milner broke Gareth Barry’s long-standing Premier League appearances record. With him now having retired, the new record stands at 658 appearances – will this ever be broken?
It is a phenomenal achievement – most footballers dream of making just one appearance in England’s top flight. To achieve so many is astounding – a testament to his preternatural longevity in football.