Arsenal's Ethan Nwaneri is the youngest ever Premier League player. Alex Pantling/Getty ImagesThis article was first published on October 2, 2023 and has been updated.
Players in professional soccer are getting younger and Leicester City's Jeremy Monga was the latest to make his senior Premier League debut in Monday's 3-0 loss to Newcastle United at 15 years, 271 days old.
Arsenal's Ethan Nwaneri remains the youngest Premier League player in history, having debuted in the competition when he was 90 days younger than Monga, but it might not be long before a pre-teenager makes their bow in one of the top leagues around the world.
Indeed, in 2022, a Northern Irish schoolboy by the name of Christopher Atherton entered the record books by becoming the youngest player in the UK to appear in a senior, first-class, fully sanctioned and competitive match at the age of 13 years and 329 days.
Here we look a little further afield at some of the youngest players to feature in Europe's Big Five leagues, as well as some of the other mercurial wonderkids who hold the same record across a selection of other notable elite-level competitions.
English Premier League: Ethan Nwaneri, 15 years, 181 days
Coming just 15 days after Atherton's feat, Arsenal set a new Premier League record when they handed a first-team debut to Nwaneri, aged 15 and 181 days.
A product of the Arsenal academy, the midfielder broke a league record that had previously belonged to Liverpool's Harvey Elliott (16 years, 30 days) when he came on for the Gunners in a 3-0 win over Brentford last season. He also became the club's youngest-ever senior player, breaking the record held by Cesc Fabregas.
A special moment for one of our own...
Ethan Nwaneri becomes the youngest player in @PremierLeague history!