James Tarkowski entered the Premier League record bookings when he collected a yellow card against Arsenal recently (5 April 2025). That was the Everton defender’s 64th yellow card in the Premier League, which is the most any footballer has ever received without seeing red in the competition. The former Burnley man was previously tied on 63 bookings with Southampton and Chelsea player Oriol Romeu but struck out on his own when he got a yellow against the Gunners.
Tarkowski was rather lucky to make it to 63 yellows, let alone 64. Many felt that the record-tying booking he got for a foul on Alexis Mac Allister in the Merseyside derby prior to the Toffees’ clash with Arsenal should have been upgraded to a red. It wasn’t, and now the central defender holds the dubious honour of being the most booked player in Premier League history to have never been sent off.
Many fans would see Tarkowski as a bit of a throwback, an old school defender who, in the modern game, has to be classed as walking the line between playing fair and being dirty and dangerous. 30 years ago his style of defending was far more normal but leaving aside historical comparisons, is the Everton man a dirty player in terms of the number of bookings he has collected?
Tarkowski Far from Most Booked
63 – James Tarkowski now has the joint most yellow cards without ever being sent off in Premier League history (63). Physical. pic.twitter.com/arZXhrRYRZ
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 2, 2025
If one looks at the Premier League this season, it becomes apparent that 64 yellow cards across a lengthy top-flight career is not all that bad. Tarkowski is one of four Toffees to have collected six bookings after 31 games of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign but the worst offender this term is Fulham’s Sasa Lukic.
The Serbian has accrued 12 bookings this term alone, from just 24 appearances! That’s a booking every other game and considering Tarkowski’s haul of 64 yellows has come from 301 Premier League games, it is safe to say that the Toffee is nowhere near the worst offenders in PL history when it comes to bookings.
Most Yellow Cards in the Premier League
Tarkowski’s total of 64 bookings is decidedly mediocre in the grander scheme of things and the former England man currently sits tied 33rd in terms of all-time PL yellow cards. He should have a few seasons in him yet, and no doubt many more cautions, but he has a lot of ground to make up to enter the top 10, let alone become the division’s worst offender. In fact, the player with the most PL bookings has almost double Tarkowski’s 64.
Gareth Barry – 123 Yellow Cards
It would not take a ridicuous amount of Premier League knowledge to be able to guess that Gareth Barry has received the most yellow cards in the entire history of the competition. It is well known – certainly among football anoraks – that the former England international (capped 53 times by his country) is the competition’s record appearance-maker.
It seemed likely that James Milner would move past Barry, and he still might, but for now the latter’s impressive total of 653 appearances is a Premier League record. Milner has 637, with Ryan Giggs and Frank Lampard the only other players in the 600 club. Barry finished his PL career with West Brom, having spent five seasons with Everton before that. He also played for Man City and Villa, spending much of his career at the latter, where he made his Premier League bow all the way back in 1997/98.
A top-flight career lasting from then until 2018 is a seriously impressive body of work, and he even spent the 2018/19 and 2019/20 campaigns playing in the Championship with the Baggies. He made well over 800 club appearances in all competitions, with a massive 653 of those coming in the PL.
That gave the combative midfielder plenty of opportunity to collect his record 123 yellow cards. He picked up his bookings at a rate of around one every five games or so, and was shown a further six red cards. That places him joint eighth for sendings off, two behind the competition’s most-sent-off trio of Richard Dunne, Duncan Ferguson and Patrick Vieira. It is only fair to say that those three played far fewer games than Barry.
As a defensive midfielder Barry’s main job was to screen his defence. He scored 53 goals and layed on 64 assists but his goal involvements are outnumbered by the bookings. He collected a fair few for mistimed tackles, whilst it is also fair to assume he took one for the team several times too, committing so-called tactical fouls to prevent opponents from breaking.
Whilst the record for bookings is not one the midfielder will be proud of, it is one that, like his appearance record (if Milner doesn’t go past him), seems set to last for some time yet. But who else makes the top three, and is there anyone who might just move past Barry’s booking bounty?
Rooney Lags Behind
Wayne Rooney has broken many records over the course of his career but he falls well short here. The one-time record England goalscorer and current top scorer for Man United was booked 102 times. He is the only yellow-card centurion apart from Barry, and his total was collected from “just” 491 top-flight outings. As such, he was a little more prolific in terms of games per booking, playing just over four matches per yellow card.
Behind Rooney we have a tie for third place, with two players who just missed out on unwanted hundreds. Both Lee Bowyer and Kevin Davies were cautioned 99 times, the former from 397 PL matches and the latter from 444.
Will Anyone Beat Barry?
The only active player in the all-time top 10 is Ashley Young, another to have played for England, Everton and Villa. However, Young is almost certain not to move past Barry, given he is currently on 90 yellows (seventh overall) and will turn 40 in July.
Of the active players, Milner is next on 76 bookings, and then we go back to Tarkowski, with 64. So it seems very unlikely that anyone will pick up more bookings than the current yellow-card king anytime soon. Almost all records are broken one day but we strongly suspect this one will last for many years to come.