James Philip Milner (born 4 January 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion.

Milner made a record 46 appearances for the England national under-21 football team, playing at the 2007 and 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championships, finishing as runner-up in the latter.

[10] Milner played most of his childhood football for Westbrook Lane Primary School in Horsforth, where one of his PE teachers and coaches was future Premier League referee Jon Moss, who would give him a red card two decades later.

[12] At the academy, Milner played against contemporaries from other clubs in Northern England, including future Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney.

[19] Milner's first-team debut for Leeds came on 10 November 2002, in a match against West Ham United, when he came on as a substitute for Jason Wilcox for the last six minutes.

[29] At the start of the 2003–04 season, Milner was sent on a one-month loan to Second Division club Swindon Town to gain experience as a first-team player.

[22] Milner made his first appearance for Newcastle United during their pre-season tour of Asia, scoring his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw against Kitchee, in Hong Kong.

[13] Milner's first Premier League match for Newcastle came against Middlesbrough on 18 August 2004, in which he played on the right of the field as a winger, despite having featured regularly on the left for Leeds.

[38] A month later he made his debut in European competition, when Newcastle played in the UEFA Cup against Bnei Sakhnin from Israel, after coming on as a substitute for Shola Ameobi.

[42] At the start of the 2005–06 season, Milner scored in Newcastle's 3–1 away win against FK ZTS Dubnica in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, and also set up Alan Shearer for the team's third goal.

[47] In a League Cup match less than a week later, he helped his team recover from being 3–1 down at half-time to win 8–3 against Wycombe Wanderers, scoring two goals in the second-half comeback.

[50] Milner himself also received the loan move positively, saying that he would like to join Villa permanently because of the probability of becoming a regular starter, but said that the possibility of this happening was beyond his control.

[61] During the season, Milner displayed his ability to play comfortably in a range of different positions by scoring and setting up goals with both feet from both sides.

[73] After missing the final nine matches of the season due to a foot injury,[74] it was rumoured in May 2008 that Milner would be part of a transfer between Newcastle and Liverpool.

[75] Despite starting the season for Newcastle and scoring in a League Cup win over Coventry City, it was revealed after the match that Milner had handed in a written transfer request the week before.

[98] Milner made his debut for City on 23 August 2010 in a 3–0 home win against Liverpool, where he set up the first goal for former Villa teammate Gareth Barry.

[125] In 2017–18 season, Milner assisted 9 goals in a single Champions League campaign, setting a new record previously held by Wayne Rooney in 2013-2014 and Neymar in 2016-2017.

[127] The following month, Milner became just the 13th player (and the 2nd youngest after former Aston Villa, Man City and England teammate Gareth Barry) in Premier League history to reach 500 appearances, during a 4–0 win at Bournemouth.

[137] On 16 February 2022, Milner came on as a substitute in a 2–0 Champions League win against Inter Milan to make his 800th senior appearance at club level.

[146] He made his Brighton debut on 12 August, in the club's opening game of the 2023–24 season, starting and playing 79 minutes of the match in the 4–1 home win over Premier League newcomers Luton Town.

[148] On 22 January 2024, Milner played his 633rd Premier League match in a home goalless draw against Wolverhampton, moving ahead of Ryan Giggs to be second in all-time appearances, only behind Gareth Barry with 653.

[162] Historically, players with several England Under-21 appearances have not progressed to become regulars in the senior team, which has led some to doubt whether Milner would be able to successfully make the transition.

[165] Milner continued to be a regular and was the only player, along with Joe Hart and captain Steven Taylor, to have played in all the qualifiers for the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

[167] He helped set up the winning goal for Micah Richards against Finland, and manager Stuart Pearce said after the match, "The modern-day full-back can get up and down the pitch and I knew [Milner] would be comfortable".

[174] In August 2009, Milner made his debut for the England senior team, when he came on as a substitute in a friendly match against the Netherlands for the final 23 minutes.

[177] He was named in the squad for the World Cup finals in South Africa and was selected in the starting lineup for England's first match of the tournament against the United States, although he was substituted after 30 minutes.

[179] He captained England for the first time for the final 10 minutes of the match in a 2–1 loss against France on 17 November 2010, when both Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard had been substituted.

[17][49][202] Manuel Pellegrini, who managed Milner at Manchester City, described him as the most complete English player in the modern game, praising his all round ability, commitment, performance level and versatility.

[203] Milner is often considered to be one of the most underrated players of his generation,[204] with The Telegraph including him at number seven in their list of "The top 20 most under-rated footballers of all time" in 2015, describing him as "hard working, reliable and intelligent.

[214] Milner was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to association football and charity.