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James Milner joined an exclusive club as he became just the fourth player to make 600 Premier League appearances.
Milner replaced Harvey Elliott, who is 17 years his junior, midway through the second half in Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Southampton at Anfield on Saturday.
In the process, the former Manchester City and Aston Villa midfielder – who made his debut in the competition for Leeds United as a 16-year-old on 10 November, 2002 – joined Gareth Barry (653), Ryan Giggs (632) and Frank Lampard (609) as the players to have played in 600 Premier League matches.
Milner hopes he can set an example for Liverpool’s youngsters, as he hailed Anfield as a “perfect place to be” for developing players.
“It’s a big number isn’t it? It’s unbelievable,” said Milner said in an interview with BBC Sport.
“It’s been a very long time. You see someone like Ben Doak come on the other night at a similar age and do well. Hopefully they can have a long career as I have.
“For our young guys it’s an unbelievable place to be. You can learn so much. You won’t go too far wrong watching these guys here and learning off them.”
Darwin Nunez’s double secured the points for Liverpool, whose opener had been cancelled out by Che Adams.
