Ranking the 10 most iconic Premier League debuts ever: Reijnders, Martial, Ravanelli…
Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham legends are among the top 10 greatest debuts in Premier League history – but which player comes out on top?
Whether they were big-money signings or fearless youngsters coming through the academy, some famous names have made an instant impact in the Premier League.
We’ve ranked 10 unforgettable top-flight debuts since 1992 in descending order. Prepare yourselves for a trip down memory lane…
10. Paulo Wanchope
Wanchope signed for Derby in March 1997 for a fee of £600,000.
The Costa Rican was almost entirely unknown until he produced a piece of individual brilliance against Manchester United at Old Trafford that remains one of the best debut goals in Premier League history.
“The previous night, I woke up every hour and a half. I didn’t sleep well,” Wanchope said in an interview with The Guardian in 2022.
“[Manager Jim Smith] understood that I wanted to be relaxed at that time. He understood that music might help me.
“He asked me on the team bus what sort of music I liked. So I put on some salsa.”
Derby won 3-2, and Wanchope went on to score 26 times in 81 games for the Rams.
9. Marcus Rashford
Rashford scored twice on his debut for Manchester United in a Europa League match against FC Midtjylland in February 2016.
Three days later, Louis van Gaal threw the teenager into the side to face Arsenal at Old Trafford and Rashford repeated the dose.
From nowhere, the Wythenshawe-born youngster had become United’s saviour and would retain that status for much of the next decade.
8. Jurgen Klinsmann
When Klinsmann arrived at Tottenham in 1994, he was not positively received by the English press on account of being German and a diver.
He leaned into the joke early on, asking in his first press conference: “Are there any good diving schools in London?”
On his debut for Spurs at Sheffield Wednesday, Klinsmann scored to put the visitors 4-2 up. The German celebrated his header by performing a dive on the turf.
“Teddy Sheringham came up and said ‘Jurgen, if you score your first goal here, we’re all going to do a dive’,” Klinsmann remembered.
“It was like all the pieces of the puzzle came together, I scored the goal and the whole team came over and did the dive.
“The wonderful thing was that the fans from Sheffield even laughed about it.”
7. Sergio Aguero
Appearing off the bench as Manchester City led Swansea 1-0 in August 2011, Aguero introduced himself to the Premier League with two eye-catching strikes.
READ: Iconic debuts: Sergio Aguero’s blistering introduction to Man City
6. Tijjani Reijnders
Just three months after the departure of Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City fans had a new hero to adore in the shape of Reijnders.
The 27-year-old Netherlands midfielder delivered an all-action performance on his league debut, contributing a goal and an assist, as City thrashed Wolves 4-0 at Molineux.
Former England captain Alan Shearer told Match of the Day: “He was sensational, it was almost the perfect midfield performance. It was incredible. He controlled the game at his pace.
“He is an absolute nightmare to play against because he is always on the move.
“The way he ran was a key part for Manchester City, he just kept going and going and Wolves didn’t have the answer. He was brilliant at it, they couldn’t cope with him.”
5. Danny Rose
Only an awful egg-yolk Spurs kit ruined Rose’s big introduction back in 2010.
READ: Iconic debuts: Danny Rose, a worldie & Arsenal’s shattered title dreams
4. Erling Haaland
Whilst Haaland was already a top goalscorer when Manchester City signed him in 2022, some sceptics cast doubt on whether he could replicate his Bundesliga form in England.
Ninety minutes at West Ham, who were still half-decent back then, silenced everybody. Two cool finishes gave City the points and Haaland would end the season with 36 Premier League goals.
3. Michu
An unknown quantity when Swansea signed him from Rayo Vallecano in 2012, Miguel Perez Cuesta, or Michu as he is better known, was the name on everybody’s lips by the end of that season.
It all began at Loftus Road on a scorching August afternoon, as Michu scored twice and provided an assist in a 5-0 away win for the Swans.
While the first was courtesy of a Rob Green howler, his second goal was a sublime curling effort that would’ve beaten prime Buffon.
Costing just £2million, the Spaniard would become one of the most iconic one-season wonders in Premier League history.
2. Anthony Martial
If you listen closely, you can still hear Martin Tyler’s ecstatic screams as Martial slotted the ball past Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mingolet on his Manchester United debut in September 2015.
The £36million teenager never fully delivered on his promise at Old Trafford, but it was a moment that United fans will never forget.
Meanwhile, Liverpool fans still haven’t forgiven Tyler for his ‘melodramatic’ commentary.
1. Fabrizio Ravanelli
Ravanelli had top-scored for Juventus in 1995-96, but the arrival of Christian Vieri and Alen Boksic in Turin left him on the sidelines.
While he might have expected to leave Juve, moving to Middlesbrough was a different matter altogether.
The Independent‘s Nick Duxbury called the move “another pointer to the growing power of the Premiership on both the home front and in Europe”, but even that felt like a huge understatement.
He may have looked like a middle-aged history teacher, but The White Feather could play. An instinctive goalscorer, Ravanelli plundered 31 goals that season (including 16 in the league).
Two-footed and deceptively lively, he announced his arrival in the Premier League with a sumptuous hat-trick against Liverpool on the opening day of the 1996-97 season.
It remains the only Premier League debut hat-trick in the competition’s history.
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