When he was 16, James Milner broke into the first team at Leeds United and even scored for the Whites – and has now shared what Nigel Martyn told him when he was just making it at Elland Road.
Milner clocked up 53 appearances for Leeds before leaving the club after coming through the academy, going on to become one of the Premier League’s most-recognisable faces over his 21-year career.
His entire career, has been spent in the Premier League. Milner is now just 23 games shy of the all-time record for games played in England’s top tier – sitting on 629, behind Gareth Barry’s record of 652.
It all started under Terry Venables at Elland Road. He shared on the High Performance podcast how Martyn used to talk to him when he was 16, telling him to enjoy. Now at 37, Milner says Martyn was right.
“One I remember was at Leeds, we were playing Spurs away. Terry Venables pulled me in, I had played a couple of games. Said not playing, hadn’t done owt wrong, just don’t want to expose you too soon.
“But someone got injured, so I travelled, wasn’t on the bench, in the tunnel before the game, someone got injured, came on the pitch did well and then from that point I was in. All those tiny little things.
“Not at all [can’t believe how quickly it’s gone]. Nigel Martyn was my age now used to say ‘enjoy it, it goes like that’. And I was like leave it out Nige, I’m 16. Here I am now, blink of an eye, and I’m his age.”
James Milner says what Nigel Martyn told him at Leeds, when 16
Milner’s career has been immense. Up there with some of the best players to have ever come through the Leeds academy. Certainly, in the last couple of decades, probably Leeds’ best academy product.
How long does Milner have left? You would imagine he still has two or three years left. Still performing well enough at Brighton this season, where he has a deal until June – with a year’s extension on top.
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