The Youngest Premier League Scorers | Opta Analyst
Who are the youngest Premier League scorers? We look back at various age-related goal records in the competition.
The Top 20 Youngest Premier League Scorers James Vaughan (Everton vs Crystal Palace on 10 April 2005) – 16 years, 270 days old James Milner (Leeds United vs Sunderland on 26 December 2002) – 16 years, 356 days old Wayne Rooney (Everton vs Arsenal on 19 October 2002) – 16 years, 360 days old Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal vs Blackburn Rovers on 25 August 2004) – 17 years, 113 days old Michael Owen (Liverpool vs Wimbledon on 6 May 1997) – 17 years, 143 days old Andy Turner (Tottenham Hotspur vs Everton on 5 September 1992) – 17 years 166 days old Federico Macheda (Manchester Utd vs Aston Villa on 5 April 2009) – 17 years, 226 days old Lewis Miley (Newcastle United vs Fulham on 16 December 2023) – 17 years, 229 days old Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest on 23 November 2024) – 17 years, 247 days old Daniel Jebbison (Sheffield United vs Everton on 16 May 2021) – 17 years, 309 days old Raheem Sterling (Liverpool vs Reading on 20 October 2012) – 17 years, 317 days old Mikael Forssell (Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest on 20 February 1999) – 17 years, 342 days old Danny Cadamarteri (Everton vs Barnsley on 20 September 1997) – 17 years, 343 days old Danny Welbeck (Manchester Utd vs Stoke on 15 November 2008) – 17 years, 355 days old Michael Ball (Everton vs Arsenal on 27 September 1997) – 17 years, 360 days old Mark Cullen (Hull City vs Wigan Athletic on 3 May 2010) – 18 years, 12 days old Lee Cattermole (Middlesbrough vs Manchester City on 2 April 2006) – 18 years, 12 days old Victor Anichebe (Everton vs West Bromwich Albion on 7 May 2006) – 18 years, 14 days old Alan Smith (Leeds United vs Liverpool on 14 November 1998) – 18 years, 17 days old Francis Jeffers (Everton vs Wimbledon on 27 February 1999) – 18 years, 33 days old James Vaughan – 16 years, 270 days oldEverton vs Crystal Palace, 10 April 2005
James Vaughan became the youngest Premier League scorer in April 2005, when he scored the fourth goal in a 4-0 win for Everton over Crystal Palace at Goodison Park.
Vaughan, who became club’s youngest post-war player – beating Joe Royle’s previous record by 12 days – scored in the 87th minute on his Premier League debut. Everton’s side contained Mikel Arteta, who would be the man to bring on the youngest player in Premier League history, Ethan Nwaneri, 17 years later.
Vaughan went on to play just 51 more matches in the Premier League and scored only six more goals – 47 of his appearances and every goal came at Everton, with a five-game spell at Norwich City in 2011-12 ending his Premier League career.
James Milner – 16 years, 356 days oldLeeds United vs Sunderland, 26 December 2002
James Milner held the record as the youngest Premier League scorer for just under two and a half years, after he scored for Leeds United at Sunderland on Boxing Day in 2002.
Milner’s 50th-minute goal levelled the game at 1-1 before Robbie Fowler’s late goal settled the match in Leeds’ favour. He remains the youngest player to ever score a competitive goal for Leeds United, at 16 years and 356 days old.
Milner has gone on to be one of the most consistent Premier League players in history, with only Gareth Barry (653) having made more appearances in the competition.
The Englishman’s strike meant that Wayne Rooney’s reign as the youngest Premier League goalscorer lasted just two months – and ended on the same day Rooney was red carded for Everton against Birmingham City. He must have heard the news.
Wayne Rooney – 16 years, 360 days oldEverton vs Arsenal, 19 October 2002
Wayne Rooney scored his first Premier League goal in October 2002 in Everton’s 2-1 win over reigning champions Arsenal at Goodison Park. Rooney’s stunning winning goal in injury time ended Arsenal’s 30-match unbeaten run and was their first defeat in 24 Premier League away games.
This was Rooney’s ninth Premier League appearance, and he remains Everton’s second-youngest goalscorer in all competitions after James Vaughan, who scored his first goal nearly three years later.
Rooney assisted in his first ever Premier League match, versus Tottenham Hotspur in August 2002. Aged just 16 years and 297 days at the time, he’s the second-youngest player to assist a Premier League goal after Aaron Lennon.
At the time of writing, Rooney is still the all-time leading scorer for Manchester United in all competitions (253 goals), while only Bobby Charlton (199) has scored more league goals for the club than the striker (183). He is also the second-highest scorer in England men’s history (53) behind Harry Kane, while no outfielder has won as many caps for the Three Lions (120).
Only Alan Shearer (260) and Harry Kane (213) have scored more Premier League goals than Rooney (208), while only Ryan Giggs (162), Kevin De Bruyne (113) and Cesc Fàbregas (111) have assisted more often in the competition than he did (103).
Cesc Fàbregas – 17 years, 113 days oldArsenal vs Blackburn Rovers, 25 August 2004
Cesc Fàbregas is the fourth-youngest player to score a Premier League goal but the youngest non-English player to net in the competition. His first goal came for Arsenal against Blackburn in August 2004 in the Gunners’ third game of the 2004-05 Premier League campaign.
The Spaniard scored the second goal in a 3-0 win for the Gunners to take their unbeaten run to 43 games. That run would eventually reach 49 matches – which included the whole of the 2003-04 Invincibles season – before losing to Manchester United at Old Trafford in October 2004.
Fàbregas was only making his third Premier League appearance in this match, while his second – just three days previous – had seen him assist a goal for the first time in the competition. Assisting aged 17 years and 110 days old against Middlesbrough means he is also the fourth-youngest player to assist a goal in the competition. He went on to play for Barcelona in 2011 before returning to the Premier League with Chelsea ahead of the 2014-15 season.
Michael Owen – 17 years, 143 days oldLiverpool vs Wimbledon, 6 May 1997
Liverpool’s penultimate game of the 1996-97 Premier League season saw them travel to South London to play Wimbledon at Selhurst Park. They were to lose the match 2-1, but the fixture did see the introduction of their young star Michael Owen to Premier League football.
Owen – aged 17 years and 143 days on the day – scored on his competition debut with a 74th-minute penalty consolation. To this day, he remains the only player under 18 years old to take a Premier League penalty, let alone score one.
The striker would go on to score 18 times the following season as a teenager, before an exceptional 1998 World Cup with England, where he’d score versus Romania and Argentina. Owen is still the last English player to win the Ballon d’Or (2001).
Youngest Player to Score a Premier League Hat-TrickMichael Owen is the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the Premier League. He scored three goals against Sheffield Wednesday in February 1998 at the age of 18 years and 62 days, breaking former team-mate Robbie Fowler’s record from five years previous (October 1993). Fowler was 142 days older than Owen when he scored a treble against Southampton in the competition.
Owen also holds the record as the only teenager to score four goals in a single Premier League match. He was 18 years and 314 days old then he scored four goals in a win over Nottingham Forest in October 1998.
Youngest Player to Score a Premier League Own GoalSpare a thought for Martin Cranie, who scored an own goal on his first-team top flight debut during a 4-0 defeat for Southampton to Chelsea in May 2004. Not only this, but he remains the only player under the age of 18 to score an own goal in the competition.
Cranie broke the record for the youngest player to score a Premier League own goal, originally held by Gareth Barry. Barry scored in his own net whilst playing for Aston Villa against Charlton Athletic in May 1999 aged just 18 years and 74 days old.
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