'We had so much fun together' - Milner pays tribute to Jota

James Milner has paid tribute to his former Liverpool teammate Diogo Jota in an interview with Brighton's in-house media team at the start of pre-season.

Milner played alongside Jota for three seasons between 2020 and 2023 before the midfielder departed Anfield to join the Seagulls. The 39-year-old travelled to Portugal for the funeral of Jota and his brother Andre Silva at the start of July.

"The emotions you feel are pretty obvious," he said.

"The shock at first of hearing it and hoping it's not actually true. Your mind goes through your experiences together and the time you shared together.

"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 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.

"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."