More video games than anybody however fewer minutes than Distin – the numbers behind James Milner’s document

James Milner has damaged the document for probably the most Premier League video games performed, with the Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder’s look towards Brentford on Saturday his 654th within the competitors — yet another than former team-mate Gareth Barry’s complete.

Now 40, Milner made his debut within the league on November 10, 2002, on the age of 16, approaching as an 84th-minute substitute for Leeds United of their 4-3 win over West Ham United at Upton Park.

He has appeared in each Premier League season since then, representing six golf equipment, enjoying underneath 21 managers and with 296 team-mates.

Milner has gained the title 3 times alongside the best way: for Manchester City in 2011-12 and 2013-14 and Liverpool in 2019-20.

His longevity and enduring class are outstanding, and reaching high spot on the looks listing is a seismic achievement — the Premier League is, in spite of everything, the preferred season-long sporting competitors on this planet and, by many metrics, the toughest division in soccer.

Here, The Athletic explores Milner’s Premier League profession: charting his record-breaking trajectory, analyzing the celebrities he has appeared alongside and towards, detailing a few of the unbelievable numbers to emerge from his time within the competitors and way more.

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First, listed below are the ten males to have performed probably the most video games within the Premier League, which started in 1992-93 when it changed the First Division as the highest tier (extra on that, and the place Milner’s longevity ranks in your complete historical past of top-flight soccer in England, later). Milner broke into this listing in January 2019.

This subsequent desk exhibits who the person with the best complete variety of Premier League appearances has been on the finish of each accomplished season for the reason that competitors’s inception, so you possibly can gauge how the document has modified arms through the years (it’s displayed this approach to keep away from the truth that it transferred possession recurrently within the Nineties).

When Milner made his debut in late 2002, Newcastle United midfielder Gary Speed held the document, with 363 video games. Milner reached that determine in October 2014 when enjoying for Manchester City, however by that time it was solely sufficient to rank joint 51st on the looks listing (alongside former Wimbledon, Tottenham Hotspur and Charlton Athletic defender Chris Perry).

Speed’s eventual mark of 535 was surpassed by Portsmouth goalkeeper David James in early 2009, with Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs then eclipsing James proper on the finish of the 2010-11 season.

Giggs’ complete of 632 was in flip crushed by Barry, who performed with Milner within the Premier League 62 occasions for Aston Villa and 72 occasions for Manchester City, in September 2017. Barry was at West Bromwich Albion on the time and went on to play 20 extra video games within the competitors earlier than seeing out his profession within the Championship after his crew’s relegation on the finish of that season.

Milner had 476 appearances to his identify when Barry performed his 653rd and ultimate match in February 2018 — 178 video games in need of breaking the document on the age of 32.

Yet now, he is obtained there. So let’s break Milner’s top-flight profession down and chart how he went from teenage debutant to record-breaker.

Here are the six golf equipment the previous England worldwide has performed for within the Premier League and the variety of appearances he has made for every.

He additionally performed six video games within the third tier for Swindon Town within the 2003-04 season however these matches, clearly, do not rely in direction of his top-flight complete.

Milner is certainly one of 4 males to have performed 100 Premier League matches for 3 totally different golf equipment, alongside Speed (Leeds United, Newcastle and Bolton Wanderers), Rory Delap (Derby County, Southampton and Stoke City) and Barry (Aston Villa, Manchester City and Everton).

Here is the variety of Premier League appearances Milner has made in every of his 24 seasons enjoying within the competitors, with the 2008-09 marketing campaign — when he left Newcastle after two league matches to completely be part of Aston Villa — the one one wherein he has performed each recreation (fewer than present West Ham centre-back Maximilian Kilman’s complete variety of 38-match seasons).

Milner had appeared well-placed to interrupt the document final season, however knee and hamstring accidents diminished him to only 4 matches — by far his lowest quantity in a marketing campaign.

So, how does his Premier League look trajectory evaluate with the person he has simply surpassed on the high?

The graph beneath illustrates his and Barry’s respective paths by season. Barry, who’s 45 immediately (Monday), made his debut within the competitors on the finish of 1997-98 for Aston Villa and, notably, performed in three fewer campaigns than Milner has.

The motive for the totally different variety of seasons is basically as a result of, whereas each gamers made their debuts at comparable ages (Milner was 16 years and 310 days outdated and Barry was 17 years and 68 days outdated), Barry performed his ultimate recreation within the competitors simply after turning 37; whereas Milner continues to be going sturdy having reached 40 final month.

Milner’s 24 seasons is, unsurprisingly, a document for the competitors — with 5 males having performed in 20 or extra.

Even although Barry’s common variety of video games per marketing campaign is notably greater (31 to 27), Milner’s longer Premier League profession has ultimately helped him take the document.

Indeed, Milner has by no means gone greater than three seasons in a row enjoying 30-plus video games however Barry reached at the least 30 matches in 15 consecutive campaigns from 2002-03 to 2016-17.

This partly explains why Barry has performed 13,874 extra minutes within the Premier League than Milner, the equal of 154 full matches. More pertinently, although, is the truth that the previous record-holder made simply 35 of his Premier League appearances as an alternative, in comparison with Milner’s competition-high of 218 (precisely a 3rd of his complete video games).

Expanding on that minutes performed statistic, Milner is just thirteenth on the listing for probably the most time truly spent on the pitch within the Premier League.

As you possibly can see, Sylvain Distin has performed extra Premier League minutes than Milner, regardless of showing in 185 fewer matches.

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With Barry in his rearview mirror, is Milner prone to maintain the document for many years? Or are there any people enjoying within the Premier League now who may realistically catch him by the point their very own careers are coming to an finish?

Here are the 14 males at the moment enjoying within the division with greater than 300 appearances in it and their respective ages.

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice seems best-placed to problem Milner’s document. He solely turned 27 final month and his high quality is excessive sufficient that he’s unlikely to fall beneath Premier League normal anytime quickly. Only Wayne Rooney, Milner, Barry and Raheem Sterling reached 300 appearances within the competitors at a youthful age than Rice was when he obtained there final month.

Regardless, Rice nonetheless has an terrible lot to do if he’s to surpass Milner.

If he performs each recreation remaining in 2025-26, Rice will end the marketing campaign on 314 appearances — after which would want to common 34 matches per season for the subsequent 10 seasons to get to Milner’s present mark of 654 (which, clearly, will solely get greater as Milner retains enjoying).

It is value Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, too. At 31, the settled nature of his profession and his place on the pitch imply the Englishman can also come at the least near the document.

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Now let’s discover Milner’s Premier League profession in better element, beginning together with his 296 team-mates. Seventeen of them have performed alongside him in 100 video games or extra.

At the opposite finish of the size, 21 males have performed in the identical crew as Milner in only one Premier League recreation.

As Opta’s Jonny Cooper noted, Milner has performed alongside a participant born in yearly from 1968 to 2008 (Pavel Srnicek and David Batty within the former and present Brighton team-mate Harry Howell within the latter).

As for his managers, Milner has performed underneath 21 within the Premier League (together with caretakers), with the earliest-born being his former Newcastle boss Sir Bobby Robson in 1933. Milner’s present supervisor at Brighton, Fabian Hurzeler, was born in 1993 — greater than 60 years after Robson.

Milner performed simply two minutes underneath John Carver, approaching as an 88th-minute substitute for Newcastle towards Blackburn Rovers in September 2004 when Carver was caretaker supervisor after the dismissal of Robson.

Carver is now the supervisor at Polish membership Lechia Gdansk, the place, sensationally, Kevin Blackwell — who Milner additionally performed only one Premier League recreation underneath (for Leeds in May 2004) — is technical director.

Four of those coaches additionally managed England: Robson (first recreation in 1982), Terry Venables (1994), Kevin Keegan (1999) and Sam Allardyce (2016). It was Venables who gave Milner his Premier League debut.

That quantity, 21, is probably the most managers anybody has performed underneath within the Premier League.

When it involves the opposition, listed below are the ten gamers that Milner has confronted probably the most typically — with present Manchester United interim head coach Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney topping the pile.

Now, right here is what number of occasions Milner has performed towards every membership that has been within the Premier League since his debut; with Ipswich Town the one aspect he hasn’t confronted.

His 37 video games towards each Manchester United and Chelsea is just eclipsed by Giggs’ 38 towards Liverpool in the case of probably the most matches performed by a person towards a selected crew in Premier League historical past.

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So, Milner now holds the document for probably the most appearances within the Premier League — and can accomplish that for a number of years into the longer term on the very least. Yet what about your complete historical past of the English high flight, which started with the 1888-89 season?

Well, on this listing, Milner is eighth for probably the most video games performed.

How a lot additional up the ranks can Milner climb? Goalkeeper Peter Shilton’s mark of 848 might final without end, whereas John Hollins’ document for an outfield participant of 714 will virtually definitely be out of Milner’s attain, given he must be enjoying in at the least 2027-28 to get there.

He ought to surpass Mick Mills by the top of this marketing campaign and, if he stays match and his contract is renewed for one more season, Milner may also have an opportunity of eclipsing Giggs and Martin Peters.

That would go away him in fifth, with simply Shilton, Hollins, Ray Clemence and Pat Jennings forward of him. And of those males, solely Hollins was an outfielder.

However many extra video games Milner performs, his longevity — unparalleled within the Premier League period — has been astonishing and is worthy of giant admiration. Let’s hold having fun with it whereas we are able to.