The 10 youngest players to reach 100 appearances in European football history
Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal has become the youngest footballer in the history of European football to reach the landmark milestone of 100 professional games for club and country.
But what became of the other prodigious youngsters who raced to a century of appearances in lightning-quick time? Was it a case of too much too young with burnout around the corner, or did their talent signpost a special career ahead?
We’ve taken a closer look at the 10 youngest players to have reached 100 professional senior appearances whilst representing a club in Europe’s top 10 leagues. Credit to Transfermarkt for compiling the data.
10. Basile Boli (18 years, 11 months)
The French defender’s crowning glory was scoring Marseille’s match-winner in their (in)famous 1993 Champions League final victory over Fabio Capello’s all-conquering AC Milan side.
He was only 26 at the time but he’d had a whole career’s worth of experience, having burst onto the scene as a teenager at boyhood club Auxerre a decade prior.
The last of his 45 caps for France came that year and he retired only four years later, aged 30. That was after he wound down his career with a series of short and unremarkable stints at Rangers, Monaco and Japanese outfit Urawa Red Diamonds following the match-fixing scandal that resulted in Marseille’s relegation in ’94.
9. Jude Bellingham (18 years, 10 months)
Sometimes a player bursts onto the scene and you just know they’re destined for greatness.
Bellingham totted up dozens of appearances for his boyhood club Birmingham City when he was just 16 years of age.
The club took a lot of flack for retiring his shirt number after he was sold to Borussia Dortmund, but now they can say they produced a Champions League winner and Ballon d’Or podiumist.
The midfielder has had the odd knee and muscular issue over the years, but so far playing so much football so early doesn’t appear to have done him any harm. Still flying.
8. Gianluigi Donnarumma (18 years, 9 months)
Italy’s No.1 was only 22 when PSG signed him on a free transfer in the summer of 2021.
At that point, he’d already notched over 200 Serie A appearances (over 250 in all competitions) for AC Milan and over 30 on the international stage for the Azzurri. Ridiculous, really.
7. Norman Whiteside (18 years, 9 months)
Open up my eager eyes, ’cause I’m…
Sorry. Ahem. Former Northern Ireland international Whiteside broke Pele’s record as the youngest footballer to appear at a World Cup, having done so 42 days after his 17th birthday.
He also broke through at Manchester United in the early ’80s, becoming the Red Devils’ youngest first-team player since Duncan Edwards.
Unfortunately the forward’s incessant injury issues denied him a career as long as it might have been. He made almost half his total club career appearances before he was 19 and he eventually hung up his boots aged 26 in 1991.
6. Warren Zaire-Emery (18 years, 7 months)
The jewel in the crown of PSG’s academy, Zaire-Emery didn’t need long to nail down his spot as a mainstay of the perennial Ligue 1 champions’ midfield.
Zaire-Emery is the youngest ever player to debut for PSG, aged just 16 back in August 2002. It’s no wonder he’s clocked up so many appearances so soon, his versatility making him a cheat code for coaches.
“I have never seen a player with such intelligence to understand and compensate for what his team-mates are doing,” says Luis Enrique.
“It’s something that almost no one sees but it has a lot of value.”
5. Celestine Babayaro (18 years, 7 months)
The Nigerian trod the path for Romelu Lukaku years later, having racked up a ton of first-team experience as a fresh-faced youngster at Anderlecht before joining Chelsea.
Babayaro struggled with injuries during his early years at Stamford Bridge but went on to make 197 appearances for the Blues. He later spent three years at Newcastle but didn’t have a particularly lengthy career, and he retired at the age of 30 after a move to LA Galaxy amounted to 45 minutes of a friendly.
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4. Gavi (18 years, 5 months)
The tenacious La Masia graduate is one of the poster boys (alongside Pedri) for Barcelona’s new generation of rising stars.
He made his debut for the Catalan club just 24 days after his 17th birthday and quickly became a fan favourite thanks to his energetic, dedicated performances in the heart of midfield.
Unfortunately his rise was severely stunted when he tore his right anterior cruciate ligament back in November 2023, but he’s back now and looks determined to make up for lost time. A big miss for Xavi last season as they limply relinquished their La Liga crown.
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3. Youri Tielemans (18 years, 5 months)
A highly-rated 22-year-old when Leicester City signed him back in January 2019, Tielemans already had a wealth of experience at that point.
The Belgian midfielder had notched well over 200 appearances across six years at Anderlecht and Monaco at that point, the vast majority of them for the former.
2. Romelu Lukaku (17 years, 7 months)
Anderlecht evidently have a ‘if you’re good enough, you’re old enough’ policy, having given regular opportunities to Babayaro, Tielemans and Lukaku when they were nippers.
Three representatives is more than any other club in this top 10, with Barcelona being the other to claim multiple academy graduates.
“I made a bet with our coach,” Lukaku reflected on his early Anderlecht years in The Players’ Tribune.
“I told him, “I’ll guarantee you something. If you actually play me, I’m going to score 25 goals by December.”
“He laughed. He literally laughed at me. I said, ‘Let’s make a bet then.’
“He said, “O.K., but if you don’t score 25 by December, you’re going to the bench.”
“I said, “Fine, but if I win, you’re going to clean all the minivans that take the players home from training.”
“He said, “O.K., it’s a deal.”
“I said, “And one more thing. You have to make pancakes for us every day.”
“He said, “O.K., fine.”
“That was the dumbest bet that man ever made. I had 25 by November. We were eating pancakes before Christmas, bro.
“Let that be a lesson. You don’t play around with a boy who’s hungry!”
1. Lamine Yamal (17 years, 7 months)
There are understandable concerns about the amount of football that Yamal already has under his belt, given the issues that Pedri, Gavi and Ansu Fati have faced as youngsters at Barcelona in recent years.
But imagine if Yamal can continue on this trajectory without any major setbacks. A frightening prospect; the talent is off the charts. We can’t wait to see where he goes from here.