The Premier League icon represented both teams but claims he knows which one is the bigger club
James Milner
James Milner has enjoyed a trophy-laden career(Image: Getty Images)
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Former Liverpool star James Milner previously admitted that the Reds are a bigger club than Manchester City. Milner played for City between 2010 and 2015 and at Liverpool from 2015 to 2023.
Sunday afternoon will see Milner's two former clubs, Liverpool and City, face off at Anfield. The midfielder left the Etihad at the end of his contract in 2015, after winning two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and a Capital One Cup in his time with the Blues.
Milner, who retired from football in June at the age of 40, says he made the transfer to ensure maximum playing time. Speaking in 2015, he said: “It’s a huge club and Man City, maybe over the course of history, isn’t as quite as big as Liverpool.
“At this moment in time, City are doing very well and expected to win trophies. The set-up is all there. I had a lot of conversations with the hierarchy at City and they never said a bad word about me. It was just their opinions on where I fitted in.
“They saw me as a big part of the club. However, when we come to it, getting to finals and things like that, the default was for me not to play. That was the way it is and I want to play as much as I can and look back on my career.
“I could have easily stayed at City and been there another four or five years helping them win things. But over the next few years I wouldn’t have played as much and my game time would have reduced.
"When I’m older I want to look back and say that I became the best player I could. I thought at times at City I won player of the month and then didn’t play for three, four or five games after. I feel here if I play well, I’ll keep the shirt. It’s down to me.”
Milner won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2019
Milner won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2019(Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wire)
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The former England international, who has also played for Leeds, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Brighton, served as Liverpool's vice-captain. He exited having won six major trophies during his time on Merseyside, including the Champions League and two Premier League titles. He made 332 appearances for the Reds.
Upon joining Liverpool, he made it clear that the club's size appealed to him. He said: “Obviously the club does not need selling. It’s a massive club globally, with the history. But I spoke to the manager [then Brendan Rodgers] about his plans for the team and for myself. He knew a lot about me.
Barclays Premier League, Manchester City v West Ham United, Etihad Stadium, Manchester City's James Milner celebrates with the Premier league trophy
Milner won two Premier League titles with City(Image: Manchester City FC via Getty Images)
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“Coming to Anfield and seeing how much it meant and how much people wanted Liverpool to win it because it had been that long, the neutrals as well.
“So we knew how big it was and that was so important, obviously, to do that – to start our own history. But you come into a club like this and you see the history, you see the legends, the pictures on the walls, and that is so important to embrace.”
Liverpool and City meet this afternoon with the fallout of the Cityzens 114 charges for financial breaches still very much headline news. On the pitch, Enzo Maresca's men are currently the pace setters in the Premier League but will head to Anfield to face Andoni Iraola's team, who are unbeaten so far in all competitions.
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