The 6 players with the most Premier League goals before turning 18: Nwaneri, Rooney…

Arsenal wonderkid Ethan Nwaneri is one of only six players in history to have scored multiple Premier League goals before his 18th birthday – but where does he rank among them?

Fifteen players – among them Cesc Fabregas, Raheem Sterling, Danny Welbeck and Lewis Miley – scored a Premier League goal before they were legally able to buy a pint, but only six have scored more than one.

Here are the six players with the most Premier League goals before turning 18.

6. Federico Macheda – 2

Everyone remembers Macheda’s debut as a 17-year-old, with that injury-time winner against Aston Villa, a key moment in United’s ultimately successful title tussle with Liverpool.

Less remembered is his second goal in as many games, another vital match-winner away to Sunderland.

The Italian only went on to score a further two Premier League goals for the Red Devils. He’s enjoyed a respectable, well-travelled career with stints across the Football League, Turkey, Greece, Germany and Italy – but he never reached the heights those first two appearances suggested he might.

=3. Danny Cadamarteri – 3

The Everton academy graduate burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old in the 1997-98 season, but he believed being fast-tracked into the Toffees’ first-team so young ultimately hampered his long-term prospects.

Cadamarteri scored a total of 13 Premier League goals for his boyhood club before embarking upon a journeyman career in the Football League.

“There were areas of my game that I needed to improve on, and I didn’t really have the opportunity to because we were playing Saturdays and Tuesdays a lot of time, with rest periods in between,” Cadamarteri recalled in an interview with us a few years back.

“Afterwards I felt that I’d lost out on quite a lot of opportunity to develop as a player and really maximise the potential that I had. As I got older I realised that, but at the time you’re just enjoying being in that environment. Being in the first team and being in the limelight.”

READ: Danny Cadamarteri at Everton: Being fast-tracked hurt my development

=3. James Milner – 3

A couple of months after Wayne Rooney, Milner broke the record to become the youngest Premier League goalscorer in history; three days younger than Rooney was at the time of his iconic strike against Arsenal.

Still only one of three 16-year-olds to score in the Premier League, Milner’s record was subsequently broken by Everton’s James Vaughan in April 2005.

Two decades on Vaughan’s record stands intact and Milner remains second in the youngest goalscorers list while still playing at the age of 39, chasing down Gareth Barry’s place at the top of the all-time appearance-maker rankings.

The veteran has notched 55 goals in 637 Premier League games, three of which were for hometown club Leeds United before his 18th birthday.

=3. Ethan Nwaneri – 3

The youngest debutant in Premier League history, Nwaneri was 15 years and 181 days old when Mikel Arteta handed him his bow against Brentford in September 2022.

The Hale End graduate had to bide his time for further opportunities, but he’s become a key member of the Gunners’ title-chasing squad in 2024-25. He’s scored against Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Manchester City and still has time on his side to move further up this chart.

Having nailed down his place in Arteta’s favoured XI amid their injury crisis, Nwaneri has another month or so to move further up this chart before his 18th birthday on March 21st. Arsenal face West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Chelsea before the March international break, where he’ll surely factor in Thomas Tuchel’s plans.

Nwaneri would need five goals in those four games to move up to the top spot. It’s a huge ask, but on the evidence of his lively, man-of-the-match display against Leicester City – in which he hit the woodwork twice – it’s not totally beyond the realms of possibility.

READ MORE: Where are they now? The Arsenal under-18 XI from Ethan Nwaneri’s last appearance

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the 20 youngest Premier League appearance makers since 2000?

2. Michael Owen – 5

Very few players get called up for England aged 18 or younger. But then again, very few players were as prodigiously talented as Owen at Liverpool – who caught the eye with his electric pace and notched five Premier League goals before his 18th.

“There was a real buzz about England at that time and we had some great players,” Owen told us, reminiscing on his finest hour against Argentina at the ’98 World Cup.

“To get into that squad for the World Cup in France was a massive achievement for a kid of my age and I remember how proud my family felt when the call-up came.

“It was surreal playing in a World Cup when I was just 18. I did not imagine I would get to that stage in my career so quickly.”

1. Wayne Rooney – 7

Of course it’s Rooney at No.1.

An absolute force of nature as a youngster at Everton, he never looked back after announcing himself to the world against Arsenal.

“It’s a special goal and a special talent,” a magnanimous Arsene Wenger told Sky Sports after the Rooney-inflicted defeat.

“An English talent, the biggest English talent that I’ve seen here since I’m in England and by far, he has everything that you dream to have.

“Intelligent, quick reactions, good with running with the ball, moves forward quickly and of course, he’s very accurate in front of goal.”

Wise words that turned out to be prophetic.