'Amazing player and great friend' - James Milner changes Brighton shirt number in 'mark of respect' to former Liverpool team-mate Diogo Jota

Milner played alongside Jota for three years with Liverpool and won trophies such as the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, in addition to reaching the Champions League final in 2022. The 39-year-old is still going strong in the Premier League and has chosen to wear Jota's former number 20 shirt with Brighton ahead of the new season.

Jota wore the No. 20 shirt with distinction at Anfield and Liverpool have since retired his number as a mark of respect following the forward's tragic passing in a car accident on July 3. The football world came together to pay their respects and tributes to Jota and brother Andre Silva continue to flood in ahead of the new season and beyond.

Milner said of his decision to take the number: “Once I heard Carlos [Baleba] was looking to change his number and 20 was available, I wanted to do it as a mark of respect and obviously pay tribute to Diogo Jota, who was an amazing player who I was fortunate to play with and a great friend as well. It is a great honour to wear his number in the Premier League this year."

Speaking shortly after Jota's death, Milner said: “As a player he was incredible. A finisher - so clever with the positions he got into, how he used his body. I sit next to Adam Webster on the bus when we travel to [Brighton] games and the amount of times I’ve said to him ‘you don’t realise how good this guy is, this guy is amazing, I love watching him’ and Adam would say ‘yeah Milly, you told me last week’.

“Every week I loved watching the guy as a player and I loved training with him but, more importantly than as a player, as a guy he was incredible. He was someone you could put in any corner of the dressing room and people loved him. Me and him had so many fun days together winding each other up. He’s such a stubborn guy like myself. We had so much fun together.

“He was such an amazing family man and just someone you wanted to be around. He’ll be missed by everyone. He was a truly amazing player and even better guy – an unbelievable guy to be around. He’ll be missed by everyone who knew him and everyone in the footballing world for sure.”

Milner heads into the new season with 638 Premier League appearances under his belt, needing just 16 more to beat Gareth Barry's record for games in the competition since its inception in 1992. Should he remain injury-free, this could be the season Milner manages to achieve the outstanding feat and he will be honoured to have the chance to do it with the No. 20 on his back.