At Euro 2024 there was initially a lot of focus on England’s young players. Jude Bellingham was already an established star but was still just 20 when the tournament began, whilst Kobbie Mainoo was 19, Adam Wharton was 20, and even Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka were 24 and 22, respectively.
However, by the end of the tournament, it was Spain’s young footballers that everyone was talking about. Pedri got injured and missed the latter stages whilst Gavi missed the whole tournament. But Spain had even younger, and perhaps brighter stars in the shape of Nico Williams (21 when Euro 2024 began) and Lamine Yamal, the latter turning 17 the day before the final.
Yamal set many incredible records at the Euros, including some which are unlikely to be beaten for many years – if ever. Amongst many new benchmarks, he is the youngest player to win the Euros, the youngest to have a goal involvement in the final, the youngest goalscorer in the tournament (beating the previous best by over a year), and also the youngest to play in the finals.
The brilliant Barca wideman also holds many age-related records at club level but in this article, we are not concerned with the Euros or La Liga. Instead, we will detail the youngest players to ever score in the Premier League.
James Vaughan Record Stands Almost Two Decades On
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The youngest player to ever score a goal in the Premier League (and we are only talking about the Premier League era here, not the pre-1992 top flight, as well) is James Vaughan. He was just 16 years, eight months and 27 days old when he found the back of the net for Everton against Crystal Palace.
The Toffees would win that game 4-0 but the match was far more memorable for the youth of the man who netted Everton’s fourth that day. The strike, on the 10th of April 2005, made Vaughan the club’s youngest goalscorer too and it was a great day for the Blues as they moved four points clear of rivals Liverpool in the battle for a top-four finish.
Perhaps even more surprising than the notion of Everton qualifying for the Champions League, is that Vaughan’s record has stood for almost 20 years. Vaughan, from Birmingham originally but with Everton since the age of 14, was making his debut for the club that fateful day. When he came off the bench with 16 minutes remaining he became the youngest player to represent Everton since the Second World War (beating Joe Royle’s record by 12 days) and with Palace already beaten, the youngster cashed in and made the most of things.
Vaughan played for England at U17, U19 and U21 level but despite playing 60 times for the Blues – scoring nine goals – he never really made it at the top level. An itinerant career followed after he left the club, including a successful three-year spell in the Championship with Huddersfield and one campaign with Bury in League One where he notched 24 league goals.
His career might not have played out as he dreamed back on that April day in 2005. However, nobody can take Vaughan’s historic goal away from him, nor a solid career. The former striker retired after the 2020/21 season and went into football administration. He currently, as of 2024/25, is back at the Toffees as their loans pathway manager.
Ageless Milner Scores for Leeds
James Milner will play his 27th season as a professional footballer in 2024/25, having signed for an extra year with his current club Brighton. There are so many remarkable stats about the former Leeds, Newcastle, Villa, Man City and Liverpool player that defy belief. However, that simple one is perhaps the most impressive of all, and who knows how long the super-fit Leeds native will carry on for.
Milner was a talented cricketer as a child, an excellent runner too, and is renowned for his fitness, stamina and running stats. Obviously he has changed his game a little as he has got older but his football intelligence has made that transition easy and the 61-capped former England international has been loved by almost every manager he has played under.
It all started back in November 2002 when he made his debut for boyhood club Leeds, having been with the West Yorkshire side since 1996. His appearance against West Ham made him the second-youngest player in PL history but seven weeks later he would create real history by becoming the youngest player to score in the Premier League.
He only held that record for a few years until Vaughan took it off him, but, as we will see, he held it longer than his predecessor, the man whose record he took. Milner had a Christmas to remember that year as, on Boxing Day 2002, he scored as Leeds beat Sunderland 2-1. At 16 years, 11 months and 22 days old he was in the record books – but only just.
Remember the Name
Milner has had an incredible career, one that seems likely to end with him having made the most Premier League appearances. However, the man who became the first 16 year old to bag a PL goal, the man, or by, whose record he eclipsed, has outdone even him.
Everton’s sensational youngster, Wayne Rooney, was 16 years, 11 months and 25 days old when he banged a perfect curling effort past David Seaman. “Remember the name,” the commentator implored and how could we not? Rooney helped Everton to a 2-1 win over Arsenal on the 19th of October, 2002, ending the 30-game unbeaten run the Gunners were on.
His record as the youngest scorer in the Premier League was broken less than two months later. Moreover, Milner broke it by just three days! But the impact of Rooney’s goal was far greater than Milner’s or even the current record-holder’s, Vaughan. That is partly because of the career that Rooney had, becoming, for a time, the top goalscorer for both England and Man United, and playing 120 times for his nation.
But it was also because of the majesty, timing and chutzpah of the goal. At the age of 16 he brought down a high ball perfectly, cut inside and with the impudence of youth curled a 30-yard effort in off the crossbar. In the last minute of the game. It was the winner too, Rooney showing that he would always be the player for the big occasion. Not bad for a 16 year old.