Highlights

• The Premier League has seen some of the most talented youngsters emerge onto the scene.
• While some have taken the step-up in their stride, others have fallen by the wayside.
• Ethan Nwaneri is the youngest player in Premier League history, and is set for a bright future at Arsenal.

For as much as football is a nostalgic game where we all love to remember the glory years of the past, it's also very much about looking forward to the future. Every season, fans happily pluck the most talented names from their club's academy and speculate on just how good they could one day be.

The truth is, though, it's hard for young footballers to live up to that potential. Just look at Chelsea in the 2023/24 season. They started their youngest-ever Premier League side in a December game against Crystal Palace, with an average age of just 22 years old. And while they won on that occasion, inconsistency has been a problem for the club ever since Todd Boehly employed a youth-focused transfer policy.

Whatever the reason, every now and then a teenager emerges on the scene at a club with just enough talent to earn the trust of their manager. In the Premier League, there have been numerous examples of this happening, and so here is a look at the ten youngest players in top-flight history, and where their careers have gone after making their first appearance in the competition.

10 Jack Robinson

Liverpool: 16 years, 250 days old

The beauty of this list is that there are some players who made their debuts quite a long time ago and yet are still playing to this day. Take, for instance, Jack Robinson who came on for Liverpool against Hull on 9 May 2010 – in the last league game of the 2009/10 season when he was just 16 years and 250 days old.

He ended up making just 10 more appearances for the Reds in total before leaving in 2014 after loan spells at Wolves and Blackburn. He eventually ended up at Sheffield United in January 2020 and has been there ever since. He now starts at centre-back regularly for the Premier League side who face relegation back to the Championship following a series of chastening defeats over the campaign.

9 Reece Oxford

West Ham United: 16 years, 236 days old

Reece Oxford immediately made a name for himself when he shined as a 16 against Arsenal in his first Premier League game. Starting in midfield, he helped West Ham United stun the Gunners with a 2-0 away win by playing a key role in nullifying the collective threat of Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla.

He played seven times in the league during that 2015/16 season but struggled to break through, leaving the club in 2019 with just 17 appearances under his belt in all competitions. He moved to German club FC Augsburg – having previously been there on loan (as well as Reading and Borussia Monchengladbach) but fitness issues have been a problem for him in the Bundesliga of late.

8 Gary McSheffrey

Coventry City: 16 years, 198 days old

Gary McSheffrey is one of the older names on this list, having made his league debut for Coventry City way back in February 1999. Aged 16 years and 198 days, he featured in a 4-1 win against Aston Villa. This made him the youngest player ever to play in the Premier League at the time.

The left winger played just 41 times in the top flight, spending most of his career lower down the pyramid with clubs such as Luton Town, Birmingham City, and Scunthorpe United before retiring in 2020. After hanging up his boots, he took up coaching and spent a brief spell in charge of Doncaster Rovers in 2021/22. This was his last and most recent managerial job.

7 Rushian Hepburn-Murphy

Aston Villa: 16 years, 176 days old

Still only 25 years old at the time of writing, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy made his bow for Aston Villa coming on as a substitute in a 4-0 win at Sunderland, becoming the second youngest player in the club's history in the process. However, the English forward failed to score in any of his 17 appearances and left in 2020.

He currently plays for Swindon Town, having joined them in 2022 after a few seasons with Cypriot First Division side Pafos. Playing in League Two, he has proven himself to be a decent option up top with 12 goals and four assists in 52 outings. With his contract due to expire on 30 June, he must now start looking for a new destination.

6 Jose Baxter

Everton: 16 years, 191 days old

Wayne Rooney obviously springs to mind as potentially being Everton's youngest Premier League player but he is instead just their youngest-ever goalscorer. But at 16 years and 191 days old, Jose Baxter pips the England legend to this particular accolade. He made his league debut back in 2008, featuring against Blackburn Rovers.

His career was blighted somewhat as a 17-year-old when he was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs and counterfeit money, although he was subsequently released without charge. He left the Toffees in 2012 and later got a brief ban from football for failing a drugs test with Sheffield United. He retired aged just 29 after a spell in America with second-tier USL Championship team Memphis 901 FC.

5 Aaron Lennon

Leeds United: 16 years, 129 days old

Aaron Lennon is a name familiar to all fans of English football, having played in the top flight for the best part of two decades. He made his breakthrough as a teenager with Leeds United way back in August 2003.

In November of the same year, he became the youngest Premier League player to ever assist a goal, doing so against Arsenal at the age of 16 years and 199 days. He is best known for his time at Tottenham Hotspur, but also spent time in England with Everton and Burnley, before retiring in 2022. One of the quickest players around in his time as a player, Lennon enjoyed his best success while at Spurs, giving the north Londoners a flying wing pairing of him and Gareth Bale for a couple of years.

4 Isaiah Brown

West Bromwich Albion: 16 years, 117 days old

Izzy Brown looked to be a hugely promising creative midfielder when he first appeared on the scene for West Bromwich Albion as a 16-year-old. He made his league debut against Wigan Athletic in May 2013 and was signed by Chelsea just a matter of months later.

Unfortunately, he never quite lived up to the hype, playing just once for the Blues in eight years, spending most of his time in west London out on loan. He joined Preston North End permanently in 2021 but didn't play a single game for the club and was forced to retire in 2023 aged just 26 due to recurrent injury problems.

3 Matthew Briggs

Fulham: 16 years, 68 days old

Matthew Briggs made his Premier League bow on the final day of the 2006/07 season, coming off the bench in Fulham’s 3-1 Premier League away defeat to Middlesbrough. It made him the league's youngest-ever player at the time, but this record has since been broken by the two entries below him on this list.

He made 30 appearances in total for the Cottagers between 2007 and 2014, often spending time out on loan. He spent time in the Championship, League One, League Two and Non-League (as well as in Denmark) before turning out for Southern League Premier Division South side, Gosport Borough, at the age of 32. Since 2023, Briggs has been playing for Horsham in the Isthmian League Premier Division.

2 Harvey Elliott

Fulham: 16 years, 30 days old

Now onto the individual who is probably performing at the highest level right now in Harvey Elliott. The young midfielder is a regular in Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool side and has already won the League Cup and the Club World Cup with the Reds.

It all started for the Englishman with Fulham, however, when he was just 30 days past his 16th birthday. Elliott came on as an 88th-minute substitute during a 1-0 defeat away at Wolves. Liverpool were quick to spot his talents and signed him just under three months after making his league debut. Given how he is now firmly entrenched in Klopp's plans at Anfield, it's fair to say Elliott has lived up to the hype that followed after emerging as a Premier League starlet.

1 Ethan Nwaneri

Arsenal: 15 years, 181 days old

In September 2022, Ethan Nwaneri became the youngest player in Premier League history when he got on the pitch in the dying embers of Arsenal's 3-0 win away at Brentford. If the teenager thought the 2023/2024 campaign might offer him some greater first-team opportunities, then that has not been the case, with Mikel Arteta perhaps understandably reluctant to throw him into the deep end when the Gunners are trying to compete for the biggest of trophies.

GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Nwaneri is the only player in the history of the Premier League to get any minutes while still just 15 years of age.

Nwaneri did however manage to get some game-time in the drubbing of West Ham at the London Stadium, where it was evident that his teammates around him, including club captain Martin Odegaard, were all doing their best to get him on the ball as much as possible. Nwaneri might still be waiting for a breakthrough year with the north Londoners, but given his age, he is more than capable of doing it in the next couple of seasons or so.

All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt