Liverpool midfielder James Milner has admitted that he could have ended up at Everton before he became a Leeds United player.
Milner had quite the start to life as a Premier League player.
Milner had risen through the Leeds ranks having been born in Worley, just about a half an hour walk away from Elland Road.
The records began to tumble late in 2002.
Milner became the second-youngest Premier League ever in November 2002, aged just 16 years and 309 days.
Just over a month later, Milner became the youngest player to score in the Premier League, bagging for Leeds against Sunderland.
Those records have gone since, but Milner was a real wonderkid with Leeds and that start set him on the path to stardom.
Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Manchester City ended up signing Milner before he found his way to Liverpool in 2015.
Liverpool’s James Milner could have joined Everton over Leeds United
The 36-year-old is approaching the end of his career now, a career that has seen him rack up 600 Premier League appearances.
Milner has enjoyed a superb career but it all could have been very different.
Speaking to the We Are Liverpool podcast, Milner has outlined that he actually had interest from Everton before joining Leeds.
Milner claims that Everton were scouting him as a teenager and he was offered a trial by the Toffees.
However, the game in which Milner was supposed to feature ended up being cancelled due to snow.
Everton never got in touch with Milner again and that allowed Leeds to move in and pick him up.
“I got scouted by Everton when I was 16, but the trial game got called off because of the snow! After that I never heard back from them and Leeds managed to pick me up,” said Milner, as quoted by LFC Transfer Room.
Who knows how Milner’s career would have turned out had he joined Everton; it’s a real sliding doors moment.
Milner became a fan favourite at Leeds and is still loved there, whilst Liverpool have seen nearly eight years of great service.
Everton missing out has certainly delighted those two clubs, and Liverpool fans will love that he’s on the red half of Merseyside, rather than the blue one.
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