January 13 – There have been 119 minors (players under the age of 18) who have played in the big-5 European leagues before turning 18 during the 15-year period from January 2009 to December 2023.
But a study by the CIES Football Observatory suggests that an early start to a football career in the top leagues is no guarantee of success.
“Only a minority (47.7%) of footballers used in the big-5 as minors and who subsequently played in other teams were able to do so for at least one club at a better sporting level than their initial one. This finding indicates that caution is required when it comes to assessing the true potential of players launched into professional football at an early stage,” argue the CIES report authors.
Then clearest exception to the rule is Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma (pictured) who played the most minutes as a minor (4,879). He is followed by Alban Lafont, Eduardo Camavinga, Florian Wirtz, Pablo Gavi and Warren Zaïre-Emery (ongoing).
“Seven players made their big-5 league debut before the age of 16, the youngest in absolute terms being Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri (15.5 years),” said the report.
France’s Ligue 1 has seen the most underage players given their debuts.
Of the players ranked in the top 20 by minutes played, only four of them are at the same club that gave them their debut. Three of those four at in the top five of the ranking – Camavinga, Wirtz and Gavi.
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