At 16 years and 30 days old, Harvey Elliot became the Premier League's youngest ever player. In May 2019, the England under-17 midfielder earned his debut in the 88th minute of a match between Fulham and Wolves. He had come on as a substitute for Tom Cairney.
Elliot's father, Steve, said in an interview that "someone called Frank" had reached out to his son after seeing him play online. "They sent Harvey some boots made by Nike specifically for kids his age so he can learn how to kick correctly while still growing feet. The contract was signed last year in January, just before he went into the academy with Fulham."
Frank has been identified as Frank Arnesen by several media outlets including ESPN and Sky Sports News. A former professional footballer himself, Arnesen now works as a coach at the youth academy of Fulham. He contacted Steve Elliot after seeing Harvey play online and told him that he should send his son's details to Nike so that they could follow up on the offer.
Nike released a statement saying that they were "delighted" that Harvey had signed with them and that they were looking forward to working with him over the coming years.
He is not only the youngest player in the Premier League but also in the entire English top flight.
Shoretire Shola Shola Shoretire was naturally overjoyed after breaking a Manchester United record during the Reds' 0-0 draw with Real Sociedad. At the age of 17 years and 23 days, he became the club's youngest ever player in a European match when he replaced Academy graduate Mason Greenwood in the 76th minute. The English midfielder now shares this honor with Bobby Charlton.
Charlton debuted at the age of 18 years and 6 months on 4 February 1947 in a FA Cup tie against Exeter City. He scored one goal in that competition as Man United lost 2-1 at home. Since then, many great youngsters have come through the club's youth system, but none as young as Shola.
Here are the five younger players who have also played for Manchester United: Lewis Neal (16), George Pappas (15), Matthew Olosunde (14), Tyler Adams (13), and Scott McTominay (12). All were part of Louis van Gaal's squad in 2015-16 except for Neal who was an unused substitute that season.
Shola came off the bench to replace the injured Greenwood and helped Jose Mourinho's side preserve their 100% start to the 2016-17 campaign. He has since made several more appearances for United and has even been included in the matchday squad on several occasions this season.
Ray Parry is the team's youngest first-team member. 15 years and 267 days (v. Wolves, October 13, 1951). Peter Shilton is the oldest first-team player. 45 years and 239 days (v. Wolves, 15 May 1995). Only competitive matches are permitted. Joe Smith has the most league goals in a season with 38 in 1920-21. Five players have scored twice in a match while playing for Bolton: John Hewitt, George Hirst, Tommy Taylor, Bert Trautmann, and Gary Speed.
Bolton Wanderers were founded in 1875. They have played their home games at The Reebok since 1996. The club is based in Bolton, Lancashire, England. Their highest league position to date is fifth place, which they achieved on three occasions - 1955–56, 1959–60, and 1960–61. They have never been crowned champions of England but they have reached the FA Cup final four times - 1895, 1911, 1968, and 1977. On all four occasions they lost to Liverpool.
The average age of the Bolton squad when they faced Wolves was 28 years and 309 days. This is the oldest team that Bolton have ever taken to court over an ineligible player. In 2003, Ray Parry claimed that he was under 16 when he played for the club in 1950. His claim was rejected by an appeal panel who ruled that he was actually aged 15+ when he debuted. No further action was taken against him.
Dominic Solanke, who was 17 years, one month, and seven days old when he replaced Oscar for the final 18 minutes of our 6-0 thrashing of Maribor in October 2014, is the club's youngest player to feature in the Champions League. He was making his debut in Europe.
The oldest player ever to play for Chelsea is John Terry, who was 28 years and 344 days old when he made his debut in the UEFA Cup against Dukla Prague on 8 August 1999. He had been called up by England manager Steve McClaren following the retirement of Tony Adams.
Chelsea have used a record 13 players in their debut season in the Premier League. The most any team has used in a single season is 16, by Manchester United in 2013-14. That season also saw Rafael Benítez become the first coach to manage 500 games in European competition when Chelsea lost 1-4 to Liverpool at Anfield.
Currently there are no under-21s players at Chelsea. When the team was founded in 1905, there were actually two sets of under-21s; one set played only matches against other First Division teams, while the other set played matches against non-First Division teams as well.
Individual
This is a list of the youngest and oldest players who have competed in this competition at least once.
Burridge became the Premier League's oldest player when he joined Manchester City in 1994, at the age of 43. Burridge has worked as a coach for numerous clubs after retiring as a player and is credited for finding Oman international goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi when he was 16 years old.
Van der Sar, probably the finest goalkeeper in Premier League and world football history, won the Premier League four times with Manchester United, the Dutch Eredivisie four times with Ajax, and the Champions League once with each club, among many other honors. 9.
After coming off the bench for the Titans against the Newcastle Knights in round 22, Rankin became the third youngest player to make their debut in Australian first-grade rugby league at the age of 16 years and 238 days. The previous two players to do so were Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk. Rankin had earlier been named in Australia's under-18 team but was replaced by another rookie after he suffered a leg injury during training. He made his debut just three days before his 17th birthday.
Rankin played only one match for the Titans before being forced out with injury. He returned for the final game of the season as a replacement player but did not score any points. After playing eight matches in all, Rankin announced his retirement from rugby league due to injury on 23 November 2017. He has since worked as a security guard at the Gold Coast Titans office building.
The youngest player ever selected in an NRL squad was Cameron King, who made his debut for the New Zealand Warriors aged 15 years and 233 days in 2004. The following year, Andrew Walker became the first teenager to play for Queensland when he made four appearances for the Cowboys. In 2006, Sam Perrett made his debut for Canberra at the age of 16 years and 311 days - this record is still standing.
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