Arsenal's Ethan Nwaneri became the youngest player to feature in the English top flight at the weekend - breaking a record held for almost 60 years by a Sunderland player. Midfielder Nwaneri rewrote the record books when he came off the bench in the 89th minute of the Gunners' 3-0 win at Brentford yesterday, making his debut at the age of 15 years and 181 days.
Much of the coverage of Nwaneri big moment focused on the fact that he became the youngest player to play in the Premier League, having beaten the record set when Harvey Elliott made his league debut for Fulham at 16 years and 30 days old when he was introduced as a substitute against Wolves at Molineux in May 2018. But league football in England began more than a century before the Premier League was founded in 1992, and in fact the more significant record broken by Nwaneri - that for the youngest top flight player - was set back in August 1964, and held for 58 years by Sunderland goalkeeper Derek Forster.
An injury to Jimmy Montgomery meant apprentice and England schoolboy international Forster was thrust into the first team on the opening day of the season, August 22 1964, against Leicester City at Roker Park at the age of just 15 years and 185 days. It would have been a brave call by any manager, but given that Alan Brown had resigned after leading the club to promotion and the team was being picked by the board of directors - albeit taking advice from captain Charlie Hurley - it was a huge decision to overlook Montgomery's number two Derek Kirby for an untried teenager.
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The game ended in a 3-3 draw, with George Mulhall having given Sunderland an early lead before Mike Stringfellow and Tom Sweenie put the Foxes in front before half-time. George Herd put Sunderland back on terms soon after the break, before Mulhall gave the Black Cats the lead for a second time with ten minutes to go, only for Ken Keyworth to equalise almost immediately.
While Forster was making his debut, at the other end of the pitch Leicester had England international Gordon Banks in goal. Forster has now lost his status as the youngest top flight player, although he remains the youngest player to start a game in the top tier of the English league.
Forster stayed on Wearside as backup to Montgomery until 1973, when he moved to Charlton Athletic, and he later went on to play for Brighton.
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