With James Milner’s time at Liverpool seemingly coming to an end, here are some of the midfielder’s funniest moments, both from the parody Twitter account set up in his honour and from the man himself

James Milner is almost as legendary for his supposed boring lifestyle as he is for his glittering spell with Liverpool, which looks set to be coming to an end.

Having captured every major domestic honour at Manchester City, the England star arrived at Anfield on a free transfer in 2015, and it has proved to be one of the best deals in the Reds’ history. The Yorkshireman has played a key role in Liverpool’s success under Jurgen Klopp, which has included Champions League and Premier League titles, plus both domestic cups and Club World Cup glory.

Now, the former Leeds, Aston Villa and Newcastle midfielder – whose 614 Premier League appearances put him only behind Ryan Giggs and Gareth Barry – is reportedly on the verge of leaving for Brighton upon the expiration of his Anfield contract this summer. Equally successful has been the parody Twitter account set up in his honour, @BoringMilner, which makes light of his clean-cut lifestyle.

Here are some of the best lines from the account during his time at Liverpool…

• “Jurgen Klopp said we should all get an early night tonight but Jurgen Klopp doesn’t know how big my ironing pile is.”

• “I said to Moreno You really should have scored that chance. He said Sí James. I said There wasn’t even a goalie there. He said Sí James.”

• “Firmino said I can’t believe we are losing 2-0 to a Championship side. I said It’s not over yet, Roberto. It’s a game of two halves.”
• “I just text Adrián to borrow his goalkeeper gloves. He said why? I said because I don’t want to catch the coronavirus and you can’t catch anything with those on. I’ll let you know when he replies.”
• “I said to Eric Dier, I thought you were Dier today. He ignored me. Then I said Ask me how I’m spelling Dier, Eric. He said Not Now James.”

• “I’ve just got off the phone to Gareth. I told him I’d like to officially rule myself out of contention for the World Cup squad. He said FFS James, I’ll have to pick Trent now.”

• “I for one am pleased there’s no alcohol at the World Cup.”

• “I need a strong cup of tea to calm down after that [Liverpool’s 7-0 win over Manchester United].”

• “I said to Jordan Henderson Football is strange isn’t it? He said What do you mean? I said Well we beat Man Utd 7-0 last week, who are 3rd. And we’ve lost to Bournemouth 1-0 this week, who were bottom of the table. Crazy.”

The account’s latest tweet refers to his potential move to Brighton: “Jurgen Klopp asked me if I had been talking to Brighton and Roberto De Zerbi. I said Non adesso [‘not now’ in Italian], Jurgen.”

Milner has been more than happy to play along with his boring reputation over the years, even posting pictures of him indulging in what some people would see as mundane pastimes, including measuring grass and rationing teabags.

And after Liverpool’s Champions League semi-final win over Roma in 2019, when asked if the players would be enjoying an alcoholic beverage, he said he would celebrate with a glass of Ribena instead.

Then, after beating Tottenham in the final, he quipped: “It’ll have to be something fizzy, go a bit exotic, lime and lemonade or something.”

SOURCE: dailystar.co.uk