A teenager made history in the Premier League over the weekend. Ethan Nwaneri came on as an injury-time substitute in Arsenal’s 3-0 win at London local rivals Brentford and became the youngest player ever to play in the English top flight, aged 15 years and 181 days.
Nwaneri was in the Gunners squad for the first time. With the clear away win, they are one point ahead of pursuers Manchester City (3-0 in Wolverhampton) and Tottenham (6-2 against Leicester), who were victorious on Saturday, at the top of the table. Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta finally replaced the homegrown player in the 92nd minute and helped the youngster make his historic debut.
“He’s already trained with us a couple of times and yesterday I felt like I’ll bring him on if the opportunity arises,” said Arteta. “I think it’s a strong signal of what we stand for as a club. I said he should be ready and he was. And when I came on, all I said was: Congratulations and enjoy.”
Aged 15 years and 181 days, Nwaneri replaced Harvey Elliott on Sunday, who made his Fulham debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers in May 2019 aged 16 years and 30 days. The youngest Arsenal player ever to play in the Premier League was current U18 manager Jack Wilshere, who came on as a substitute in 2008 aged 16 years and 256 days. Cesc Fabregas was even younger when he made his debut in the Liga Cup, at 16 years and 177 days.
13-year-old can prove himself in Northern Ireland
However, history has not only been made in the English Premier League in recent days. Christopher Atherton came on as a 75th-minute substitute in Glenavon FC’s 6-0 victory over third-tier Dollingstown FC in the Northern Ireland Cup on Tuesday, aged just 13 years and 339 days.
The youngster thanked coach Gary Hamilton for his trust just 60 seconds after he was substituted on and put the 6-0 up through Matthew Snoddy. The previous British record was held by Jordan Allan, who was 14 years and 191 days old when he made his debut for Airdrieonians FC in the Cup against Livingston FC in 2013.
