james milner He is expected to surpass Gareth Barry’s Premier League appearances record, but will do so playing significantly fewer minutes.
If Milner plays for Brighton & Hove Albion at Aston Villa on Wednesday, he will equal Barrie’s record of 653 Premier League appearances.
The 40-year-old will have the remainder of the season, starting at Brentford on February 21, to claim the absolute record.
Remarkably, he has played 14,031 fewer minutes than Barrie in the competition.
This is equivalent to 155.5 full matches, or four full Premier League seasons with each match appearing in one match.
Milner has had far fewer Premier League starts than Barrie. He has started 435 matches compared to Barrie’s 618.
Milner already holds the record for most appearances from the substitute bench in Premier League history with 217 appearances. Barry appeared only 35 times.
For this season, and the previous three seasons, the Premier League rule for the amount of substitutes has been increased from three to five, allowing more opportunity to come off the bench.
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Milner’s Premier League career begins leeds united When he came off the bench to replace Jason Wilcox, who is now Manchester United’s director of football.
He became the competition’s youngest scorer at the age of 16 years and 356 days. He remains the second youngest player to hold the record, joining James Vaughan since 2005.
He played for Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Liverpool, Brighton and England.
Milner has won three Premier League titles, two FA Cups and one Champions League title.
Barrie started for Aston Villa, Man City, Everton, West Bromwich Albion and England. He won the league with City.
ESPN Global Research contributed to this report.