I never really understood the mad hype and love for him while he was at City and I've never really understood the mad hatred for him since he left.
He came in, signed a five-year deal, was a good rotation option to allow better players to be rested, was part of a huge period of change at City and left with some big trophies under his belt, then went to Liverpool at the end of his contract.
I found the mad clamour for him to constantly play and the constant praise he used to get for "putting a shift in" a bit baffling, to be honest. He was tidy, always 7/10, but rarely (if ever) produced genuine stand-out games like so many others did.
This constant need that both Milner and our fans seemed to share that he simply must play in central midfield was quickly exposed on the rare occasions it did happen. He was much better as a wide forward slipping into the channels and arriving late in the box.
But he was a solid professional and all he seemed to do after leaving City was praise his new Liverpool team. So what? He still speaks fondly of his time under Mancini and Pellegrini and had lots of good stories to tell when he did that episode of Kickback with Nedum Onuoha during the pandemic.
He came in, was useful, then left. Big deal. Hope he's happy in his retirement.