The secret to James Milner’s longevity as he makes Premier League history

Having made his Premier League debut aged 16, the now 40-year-old Milner spans eras will break the record for most appearances in the competition’s history as he starts for Brighton at Brentford SportFootballThe secret to James Milner’s longevity as he makes Premier League historyHaving made his Premier League debut aged 16, the now 40-year-old Milner spans eras will break the record for most appearances in the competition’s history as he starts for Brighton at BrentfordRichard Jolly Senior Football Correspondent Saturday 21 February 2026 16:50 GMTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popoverJames Milner turns 40!Your support helps us to tell the storyRead moreSupport NowFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreIt was the first day of Jurgen Klopp’s last pre-season as Liverpool manager, and his players were charged with doing laps of pitches on their Kirkby training ground. At the end, Klopp, with a huge grin, said: “And the James Milner award goes to…” Mohamed Salah was the exhausted recipient but only, probably, by default, because Milner had left. He had won Liverpool’s lactate test every year he was at Anfield, even into his mid-thirties. Liverpool had shown the footage in 2019; Joe Gomez, 11 years Milner’s junior, was his last rival, but inexorably, the running machine dropped him, the defender falling ever further behind.As Milner breaks Gareth Barry’s record of 653 Premier League appearances, it is because he has kept on running for longer than anyone else. Since 2002; he has played top-flight football for 24 seasons, at 16 and at 40 and every age in between. His first-team bow was closer to the 1970s than to today. When he debuted, he had sat on the Leeds bench along with Nigel Martyn, who was born in 1966. He has been a Brighton teammate of Harry Howell, born in 2008, after Milner had made 226 senior appearances. He has played for managers born in 1933 and 1993, in Bobby Robson and Fabian Hurzeler.open image in galleryJames Milner broke the Premier League appearance record against Brentford (Peter Tarry/PA Wire)Milner has straddled eras or, perhaps more accurately, kept running through them. The rest of the football world has changed but one man has remained the same. Precociously mature, forever grounded, always teetotal, Milner was the oldest 16-year-old in the business. Now his fitness levels may make him the youngest 40-year-old.He is almost three years older than the next oldest to take the field in the Premier League this season, in Seamus Coleman. But then his current manager, Hurzeler, was only nine when Terry Venables brought Milner on against the West Ham of David James, Nigel Winterburn and Paolo Di Canio to play the first of those 653 games. Venables, by the way, is one of four England managers Milner has played for at club level, along with Robson, Kevin Keegan and Sam Allardyce.RecommendedLiverpool are falling apart thanks to a disastrous transfer decisionWhy Bernardo Silva is Pep Guardiola’s perfect captainCalamitous Cristian Romero and his painful irony that shows he is Tottenham’s problemThere have been 22 in all. Most valued him, some marvelled at him – Klopp, who said years ago that Milner would play until he was 40, more than most – and one famously underestimated him. Graeme Souness once declared that “you won’t win the league with James Milners”. Manchester City did, and Liverpool. Liverpool won the Champions League with him, too.And the chances are that most managers would have preferred multiple James Milners to just the one. His remarkable versatility is a reason why. Milner has played every outfield position except centre-back. During a City injury crisis in 2014, Milner stood in as a striker, used his formidable fitness to drag defenders out of position and allowed his teammates to be prolific. A year and a half later, Klopp reinvented him as a left-back for a season. open image in galleryJames Milner, seen here aged 16 and 40, is both the second-youngest and second-oldest goalscorer in Premier League history (Getty)open image in galleryMilner brought creativity as well as work ethic to Manchester City’s first two Premier League title-winning sides before becoming Mr Reliable for Liverpool (Getty)Each was a sign of a player who, perhaps without a defining characteristic beyond his runni