Before Harvey Elliott, the record holder was Matthew Briggs – another Fulham player, who made his debut as a 77th–minute substitute against Middlesbrough on 13 May 2007. He was 16 years and 65 days old.
Unfortunately, this was probably the highlight of Briggs's career. He made only 13 League appearances for Fulham, and in the summer of 2014 (aged 23) he was one of nine players released after the Cottagers were relegated from the Premier League. He signed for Millwall, but over the next four years he played for three different clubs, and in 2018 he signed for Barnet who had just been relegated to the National League. In the summer of 2021, Gosport Borough (playing in the Southern League Premier Division) became Briggs's eleventh club (not including loans). He made no appearances in the 2021–2 season.
Born in Wandsworth, London, Matthew Briggs represented England at youth levels from Under–16 to Under–21, but in 2015 he made his full international debut for Guyana. At the time of writing (June 2022, now aged 31) he has won 15 caps.
For Harvey Elliott, things at club level are hopefully going rather better. In the 2019–20 season he made a total of 20 appearances for Liverpool (including eight in the Premier League), and in 2020–1 he went on loan to Blackburn Rovers, where he made 41 appearances in the Football League Championship and was nominated for the EFL Young Player of the Season award.
Elliott signed a new long–term contract with Liverpool on 9 July 2021. He made his first Premier League start for the Reds on 21 August, playing the whole match in a 2–0 win against Burnley. But three weeks later he suffered a dislocated ankle in a match against Leeds United. He returned to the side in February 2022, making seven more appearances before the end of the 2021–2 season.
© Haydn Thompson 2022