’You’ll never win anything with kids’ was the once famous refrain of Alan Hansen, speaking about Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United side just before they went on to win absolutely everything.
It’s generally true, though, that clubs do better when they’ve got more experienced players on the pitch. Does that mean that kids are useless? Should younger players be forgotten about until they’ve been ‘blooded in’?
Different players develop at different rates, of course, and even those that make the breakthrough don’t necessarily go on to be famous, world-class performers.
But who are the ten youngest lads to have appeared in the Premier League over the years? We’re about to find out…
James Vaughan
Everton have long been known for bringing decent young players through, with a certain lad called Wayne Rooney getting on the pitch when he was just 16 years and 297 days old, though that isn’t enough to earn him a place on this list – even though the Blues are responsible for two of the lads who are.
James Vaughan made his Everton debut at the age of 16 years and 270 days in April of 2005.
We’d love to tell you it was a boring debut that was soon forgotten, but the opposite is true. The Toffees won 4-0 against Crystal Palace and Vaughan capped a tremendous performance with a goal three minutes from time.
Many Evertonians felt he’d go on to be something special, but he made just sixty appearances for the club before injuries took their toll on him.
Mark Platts
You might not recognise the name of Mark Platts, but you’ll almost certainly have heard of the fella he replaced when he made his debut for Sheffield Wednesday in February 1996.
The Owls were playing Wimbledon when this much heralded youngster came on to replace Chris Waddle, the England international.
Platts had caused tongues to wag with his performances at schoolboy level, but the winger couldn’t make the step up to the big time and played just one more game for Wednesday.
He moved to Torquay United then Worksop, retiring from the game completely in 2001. He was 16 years and 264 days old when his career started and just over 21 when it finished.
Jack Wilshere
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Arguably the most famous name on the list, Jack Wilshere had the potential to be quite some player if only he wasn’t made almost entirely out of polystyrene.
It was September 2008 when he got onto the pitch for the first time for Arsenal, aged 16 years and 255 days old. It came in a game against Blackburn Rovers, with the youngster replacing a certain Robin Van Persie in the 4-0 win.
Arsene Wenger’s always been known for trusting the kids, so it’s no surprise that Wilshere was selected again ten days later for a League Cup match, scoring a goal against Sheffield United in the process.
The injury ravaged player made 36 appearances for England, too, but his career was neve what it could have been, and after leaving Arsenal he struggled for regular starts at West Ham for a few years before a brief stint in Bournemouth, finally ending his career in Denmark playing for Aarhus Gynnastikforening.
Jack Robinson
Rafa Benitez was never shy of giving young players a chance during his time at Anfield, famously reshuffling the way the Academy was structured at the famous old club in order to give the kids the best possible chance of developing.
So it was that Jack Robinson got onto the hallowed turf in May of 2010 in a 0-0 draw with Hull City. Rafa left Liverpool that summer though, and Robinson wasn’t far behind him.
Despite getting his debut at the age of 16 years and 250 days, he never quite made the breakthrough into the first team, moving to Blackpool & Wolverhampton on loan before being bought by QPR.
He struggled for game time there though, moving on in 2018 and having much better fortune with Nottingham Forest and then Sheffield United.
Gary McSheffrey
Given that managers don’t generally like to take chances with youngsters, it’s no surprise that Gary McSheffrey made his Coventry debut in a game where they beat Aston Villa 4-1.
It came in February 1999 and the young winger was 16 years and 198 days old. He played just three more senior games that year and was eventually sold to Birmingham City for £4 million in 2006.
He did well there for a few years before losing his place, going out on loan a few times, and ultimately ending up back at Coventry again.
A few years after that, McSheffrey ended up bouncing around a number of lower league teams from one year to the next, including the Mighty Mariners, Grimsby Town, before retiring in 2020.
Jose Baxter
Another Everton youngster, Jose Baxter came on for the Blues in a 3-2 loss to Blackburn on the opening day of the 2008-2009 season. He was 16 years and 191 days old at the time.
He played another thirteen games for the Toffees but left to join Oldham Athletic. Everton actually offered him a new contract, but he saw playing games as more important than earning money.
He certainly got games, securing a first team place at Oldham, then moving across to Sheffield United where he was equally busy.
Interestingly he was sold back to Everton in 2017 but never made another first team appearance for them, headed back to Oldham where he once again was a regular in the team, albeit in League 2 by this point, then had a fairly quiet one year stint at Plymouth Argyle.
He retired in 2020 after a season in the US playing for Memphis 901, in the second division.
Rushian Hepburn-Murphy
Was he named after Ian Rush? If not he really should have been.
It was Tim Sherwood that gave him his debut for Aston Villa, however, sending the young forward on with seven minutes to go during the Villans 4-0 win against Sunderland at The Stadium Of Light in 2015.
Rushian was 16 years and 176 days old that day and he had earned his place on the pitch by scoring 18 goals in 21 games for the Villa youth team.
He wouldn’t make the same impact in the first team sadly, making only a handful of appearances each season for six seasons, before leaving for Pafos in 2020, with 18 games and no goals to his name in his time at Villa.
He spent 2 seasons in Cyprus, although only played in the first due to injury ruling him out of the 2021/22 season, and was then promptly released.
League Two’s Swindon Town took him on after that, where he fared better.
Aaron Lennon
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Aaron Lennon made his name playing for Tottenham Hotspur, but he actually made his debut playing against Spurs for Leeds United in 2003.
He was aged 16 years and 128 days when he came on for Leeds at White Hart Lane. He then moved there to play for Spurs in 2005 and spent a decade there before making the move to Everton.
He spent the majority of the end of his career at Burnley, but was a regular first team player wherever he was.
One of the more successful players on this list, Lennon also made 21 international appearances for England, although he was often used as a substitute.
Izzy Brown
Another case of ‘who?’ being shouted from the gallery, Izzy Brown was 16 years and 117 days old when he appeared for West Bromwich Albion in the Baggies’ 3-2 home loss against Wigan Athletic in 2013.
He only played four minutes in that game but it must have been enough to interest Chelsea, with the Blues adding Brown to their collection of talented young kids who never see the light of day once they cross the boundary of Stamford Bridge.
By that, I mean he was continually loaned out to other clubs, so despite spending 8 years on Chelsea’s books he only ever pulled on the shirt once.
He was finally sold to Preston North End in 2021, but sadly, during pre-season training Izzy suffered a bad injury and never got back to the level required, so he was released without ever kicking a ball for them. He retired in 2023 aged 27.
Matthew Briggs
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Number two on the list, then, is Matthew Briggs. The fullback was 16 years and 65 days old when he made his debut for Fulham at Middlesbrough back in May 2007. They lost 3-1, with that perhaps being a portent to the way his career would go.
He’s played for England at numerous youth levels but changed his allegiance to Guyana, where his mother’s family is from, in order to get a senior international game.
He struggled for games domestically too, and despite spending 8 seasons at Fulham never established himself in the first team, amassing a grand total of 30 appearances.
The first club he really settled at was Colchester, who he joined for two years after a season long loan. His next move was to Chesterfield but this triggered a string a successful moves to different teams on the way down the footballing pyramid.
It was at Gosport Borough, a team in the Southern League Premier Division South, where he saw the most action during the 2021/22 season.
Harvey Elliot
Harvey Elliot takes the number one spot on the list (which is actually eleven players long not ten), who at 16 years and 30 days old had barely finished celebrating his birthday when he played for Fulham away against Wolves, coming on in the 88th minute.
This was in 2019, and he played a further 16 minutes for Fulham (who were relegated) before Liverpool came in for him, giving him his first Premier League start after a number of substitutions in a 2021 game against Burnley, which Liverpool won 2-0.
After a season long loan to Blackburn Rovers in the 2020/21 season, Elliot began to fight his way into the Liverpool first team, becoming a key member of the squad from 2022 onwards.
He has even won the EFL Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, and a Champions League runners up medal with the reds.