Arsenal’s Nwaneri, 15, Becomes Youngest Player to Appear in English Top Flight
Ethan Nwaneri became the youngest player to appear in an English top-flight match on Sunday after being brought on as a late substitute in Arsenal’s 3-0 victory against Brentford.
Aged 15 years and 181 days when he entered the match, Nwaneri was born in March 2007 and wasn’t alive when the Emirates Stadium opened.
Interestingly, the attacking midfielder was only promoted to first-team training this week.
Harvey Elliott held the previous record for youngest Premier League player after making his top-flight debut for Fulham in 2019 at 16 years and 38 days old.
Goalkeeper Derek Forster, who appeared for Sunderland aged 15 years and 185 days in 1964, held the overall record for top-tier matches since the formation of the Football League in 1888.
Nwaneri could hold the record as the youngest player across Europe’s top five leagues: He’s beaten the mark set by Luka Romero of Real Mallorca (15 years and 219 days) in 2020, according to Kyle Bonn of The Sporting News.
Christopher Atherton became the youngest senior footballer to play in the U.K. when he provided an assist in Glenavon’s 6-0 win over Dollingstown in Northern Ireland’s League Cup last week. He was 13 years and 329 days old.
James Milner had played 239 1st team games before Ethan Nwaneri was even born!
— Nathan Murphy (@nathanmurf) September 18, 2022
