James Milner

In the dressing room and on the pitch, Milner is the one who has delivered above all others in these attritional past few months. He, more than captain ...

Milner was 32 at the time and three years into what had seemed to be a brief swansong. The story of a City community event involving Milner and Mario Balotelli reveals much about a player who leads in the broadest sense of the word. A babysitting role has never been part of the requirement among the grown-ups at Liverpool, where 'Milly', as they all came to know him, subscribed to Klopp's work ethic more than any other player, turning up year after year for the new season and topping the lactate tests which proved him the fittest. It was always hard to discern much visionary quality in that most dreary and uninspiring of managers. A trial match for Everton in his formative years was snowed off. IAN HERBERT: James Milner is the perfect character for Liverpool's hallowed No 7 jersey...