We all love it when a youngster comes through our club’s academy, breaks in to the first team and scores.
Of course, we all look in awe when we think that while a young teenager is scoring in the Premier League, we were sitting about in our pants playing computer games at the same age. That’s not the point, though. It’s always a beautiful moment we want to see more of.
The Premier League has played witness to some incredibly young goalscorers in its time. A few of them are among the biggest names in world football, while most of them you will have completely forgotten about.
Will we ever get younger than the youngest? It would be incredible!
25. Rio Ferdinand – 18 years, 2 months, 25 days
The legendary centre-back scored only 11 goals during his Premier League career but found his way onto the scoresheet quickly in his first full season, notching his first career league goal for West Ham in a 2-1 loss to Blackburn Rovers in February 1997.
Ferdinand slotted another goal several weeks later to bring his season total to two.
Over the span of his 19-year career, the Englishman appeared in 504 matches and earned 189 clean sheets for the Hammers, Leeds United and Manchester United, but only did he eclipse his goal scoring mark from that debut season.
24. Darren Bent – 18 years, 2 months, 18 days
The journeyman forward’s first career goal also served as the match-winner in a 1-0 Ipswich Town victory over Middlesbrough in April 2002.
Bent, who later made 12 appearances for England, would go on to play for nine clubs, including Tottenham, Aston Villa and Derby County, and finished his career in England with 181 career goals.
Bent was 18 years, two months and 18 days old when he scored his first career Premier League goal.
23. Sol Campbell – 18 years, 2 months, 17 days
Campbell appeared in just 22 minutes of football during his debut season in 1992, but still managed to make his way onto the scoresheet for Spurs that season.
Coming on as a 68th minute sub in a December meeting with Chelsea, the English centre-back netted an 88th minute goal to mark the first of his career.
Campbell would go on to score 24 goals over a 20-year career spent with Spurs, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Portsmouth and Notts County, but his first – scored at 18 years, two months and 17 days – earns him the distinction of being among the youngest goal scorers in Premier League history.
22. Chris Bart-Williams – 18 years, 2 months, 17 days
The first of this English midfielder’s 30 career goals came for Sheffield Wednesday in September 1992 in a 2-1 defeat to Coventry City.
Bart-Williams spent 12 seasons in English football and appeared in 211 Premier League matches during that time.
His goal in his first full season with Sheffield Wednesday came when he was 18 years, two months and 17 days old.
21. Serge Gnabry – 18 years, 2 months, 14 days
Gnabry registered his first career Premier League goal to help push Arsenal past Swansea City in September 2013. The German winger’s strike remains his only league goal from his time in England.
Now a regular in Bayern Munich’s starting XI, Gnabry still holds a place in Premier League history as one of its youngest scorers of all-time.
20. Jack Wilshere – 18 years, 2 months, 2 days
On loan with Bolton in the spring 2010, Wilshere slotted a 16th minute winner to push the Trotters past West Ham and earned himself a first-ever Premier League goal in the process.
Only seven more league goals have followed for the English midfielder over his 11-year career in the top-flight, his last coming for Arsenal in January 2018.
Wilshere will never set records for goals, but his first – which came at 18 years, two months and two days – leaves him amongst the youngest to register a goal in Premier League history.
19. Gareth Barry – 18 years, 2 months, 1 day
The league-title winner began his career in Birmingham with Aston Villa where he picked up his first career Premier League goal with a 57th-minute strike in a 2-0 over Nottingham Forest on April 24 1999.
It was the first of 53 Barry would score in the league over time spent with Villa, Manchester City, Everton and West Bromwich Albion.
Well accomplished throughout his career for both club and country, Barry also remains one of the youngest scorers in league history having netted his first goal at 18 years, two months and one day.
18. Michael Branch – 18 years, 1 month, 19 days
Branch’s 17th-minute goal for Everton helped counter goals from Gianfranco Zola and Gianluca Vialli in a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge in December 1996.
The English centre-forward scored just once more in his four years playing in the Premier League and spent the remainder of his career in the First Division and League Two.
While his mark on the Premier League was minimal and his memory among most football fans has long faded, Branch still owns the distinction as one of the league’s youngest scorers after registering his first-career goal at 18 years, one month and 19 days.
17. Gareth Bale – 18 years, 1 month, 16 days
The former Premier League Player of the Season scored his first-career Premier League goal with a left-footed strike in the 61st minute of a 3-3 draw between Spurs and Fulham in September 2007.
Bale would go on to score 43 league goals during his six-seasons with Tottenham before departing for Real Madrid.
The Welsh winger still holds a series of honours from his time in England and prominent among them is his place as one of the league’s youngest scorers at 18 years, one month and 16 days.
16. Francis Jeffers – 18 years, 1 month, 2 days
Jeffers’ 57th-minute goal drew Everton level in a 1-1 draw to Wimbledon on Feb. 27 1999.
The goal was the first of 24 the English forward would slot over time spent in the top-flight with the Toffees, Arsenal, Charlton Athletic and Blackburn Rovers.
Jeffers played his final Premier League season in 2006-07 and he remains one of the league’s youngest scorers at 18 years, one month and two days.