James Milner has chosen to wear the number 20 shirt at Brighton this season in honour of his former Liverpool team-mate Diogo Jota.
Jota tragically passed away last month at the age of 28 after a car crash that also claimed the life of his brother, Andre Silva. He had played a key role in Liverpool’s Premier League title win just weeks earlier.
During his five seasons at Anfield, Jota wore the number 20 shirt. Milner played alongside him for three of those seasons before moving to Brighton in 2023.
Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba recently gave up the number 20 jersey and switched to 17. That opened the door for Milner, who had been wearing number 6, to take Jota’s old number as a tribute.
Speaking on the club’s X channel, Milner said:
Once I heard Carlos was looking to change his number and 20 was available, I wanted to do it as a mark of respect and pay tribute to Diogo Jota.
He was an amazing player who I was fortunate to play with and a great friend as well.
It will be a great honour to wear his number in the Premier League this year.
James Milner also paid a heartfelt tribute to Jota shortly after his passing, speaking about his quality on and off the pitch:
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’
AdvertisementEvery week I love 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.
AdvertisementHe 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.”
Liverpool have retired the number 20 shirt in memory of Jota.
Milner, who signed a one-year contract extension with Brighton in June, will now continue into his 40s. He also joined other former Liverpool players at Jota’s funeral in July.
