James Milner named surprise Liverpool teammate as "most underrated"

James Milner has named an "incredible" former Liverpool teammate as the most underrated he has ever played with.

Milner recently broke the record for the most Premier League appearances, overtaking Gareth Barry with a 654th outing in a 2-0 win for Brighton against Brentford.

Still going strong at 40, record-breaker Milner is in his 24th Premier League season and has turned out for the likes of Leeds United, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Liverpool and current club at Brighton.

The three-time Premier League winner has played with a whole host of elite level players in his time in the English top flight.

But the former England international picked out Joel Matip as the most underrated he shared a dressing room with. Initially giving praise to his ex captain Jordan Henderson, Milner

hailed the Cameroonian as "absolutely incredible" as he praised his partnership alongside Virgil van Dijk.

Milner spoke glowingly of former Liverpool teammate Matip. Image: Getty

“I think Jordan Henderson would be one," Milner told SPORTbible.

"I'd say Joel Matip. Joel Matip was absolutely incredible as a player, as a lad, so good for us.

“And obviously, he had an amazing player next to him in Virgil. Virgil got a lot of credit as well, but Joel Matip was so good.

“And with the ball, without the ball, highly underrated for me.”

Matip joined Liverpool on a free transfer from Schalke in 2016 and went on to win every available competition, including the Premier League and Champions League.

He made a total of 201 appearances, scoring 11 times. Matip retired from football at the age of 33 in 2024 and he has maintained a low profile with his family back in Germany.

Milner, meanwhile also spoke about the ups and downs of his decorated career, discussing the pride of breaking the record for the most assists in a single Champions League season back in the 2017/18 campaign.

"There's some pretty decent players who have played in the Champions League, so to have that is pretty special," Milner reflected.

Milner's first World Cup game ended disastrously

On the international stage, Milner played 61 times for England and featured at four different international tournaments.

However, his very first appearance is linked to his worst ever career memory as he revealed that he had lost weight due to illness in the build-up to England's 1-1 draw with the United States in 2010.

Milner was separated from the rest of the squad going into the game and lasted just 30 minutes.

“The worst memory probably was my first ever World Cup match," Milner admitted.

"I'd been ill for three or four days before the first game, lost a load of weight, not been able to eat dinner with the boys, I had to be kept apart, and I started the first game against the USA.

“It didn't go well, I got booked, I think I got pulled off after 20-25 minutes, and thought, if that's the only World Cup game I ever play, that's not ideal.

“But yeah, that wasn't great. I didn't play the second game, and fortunately in the third game, I managed to get the assist to get us through the group. It had a happy ending in the end, but it wasn't the best start to a World Cup.”

SPORTbible went BTS with James Milner for Specsavers' Best Worst Team. To find out what James got up to, check out Episode 6 which is now live on YouTube!