The youngest debutants in Europe’s big five leagues – & how they’ve fared

While most footballers don’t play in Europe’s big five leagues until their late teens, there have been quite a few exceptions over the years. 

Wayne Rooney famously made his Everton debut at the age of 16, but he’s only the 15th youngest player to appear in the Premier League.

We’ve taken a look at the youngest debutants in each of Europe’s top five leagues – the Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 – since the start of the 1992-93 season and how they’ve fared since.

A Fulham academy graduate, Elliott made his Premier League debut at the age of 16 years and 30 days after coming off the bench against Wolves in May 2019. 

He made one more Premier League appearance for the Cottagers before joining Liverpool, who later paid a compensation fee of £1.5million.

The winger made eight appearances for Jurgen Klopp’s side in 2019-20 and became the youngest Liverpool player ever to start a competitive game at Anfield.

He then enjoyed a brilliant loan spell at Championship side Blackburn Rovers in 2020-21, registering seven goals and 12 assists in 42 appearances.

The England Under-21 international appeared in Liverpool’s first four Premier League games of the 2021-22 season before suffering a serious ankle injury against Leeds United.

“When he got the injury, the next day or two days later I saw him at the training ground and I was in a worse mood than he was,” Klopp said in 2022.

“He was like, ‘Come on boss, head up, I will be back.’ He is an exceptional talent in a lot of departments.”

Elliott has since returned to full fitness and scored his first Liverpool goal in an FA Cup win over Cardiff City in February 2022.

READ: The 14 teenagers Klopp has signed for Liverpool – & how they’ve fared

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