“You can’t win anything with kids” is one of football’s most famous phrases. Coined by Alan Hansen back in the 1990s, it has firmly established itself in the sport’s vernacular over the years.
While Hansen would come to regret those words as a youthful Manchester United team proved their doubters wrong and conquered English football, there is an element of truth in what the former Liverpool defender said.
Experience is needed to be successful at the highest level, along with a variety of age ranges capable of providing different skills.
However, in the FIFA and Football Manager generation, teams are getting increasingly youthful. Just look at Chelsea’s transfer strategy of only signing players under the age of 23 on massive seven-year contracts – perhaps one of the reasons they are finding life hard in 2023/24 so far.
Champions of the Premier League youth table are Burnley, with Vincent Kompany employing the polar opposite strategy to his predecessor Sean Dyche. It hasn’t served them too well so far and the same applies to second-placed Chelsea, who have also struggled for form this campaign.
However, both Arsenal and Spurs have a lower percentage of minutes played by footballers aged 21 or under, with 74.6% of minutes played by 22-25-year-olds at the Emirates.
Treble-winners Manchester City sit in eighth with a healthy age balance across their squad, while bottom of the table Sheffield United sit just a place below them. One of the key differences here is that the Blades have had 34.2% of minutes played by players 30 or over.
|
Position |
Team |
Average lineup age |
Players 21 or under (%) |
Players 30 or over (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Burnley |
24.57 |
27.9% |
7.8% |
|
2 |
Chelsea |
24.95 |
28.0% |
9.1% |
|
3 |
Arsenal |
24.96 |
4.5% |
5.0% |
|
4 |
Tottenham |
25.12 |
15.7% |
9.8% |
|
5 |
Bournemouth |
25.72 |
20.0% |
11.3% |
|
6 |
Brentford |
26.22 |
11.4% |
19.6% |
|
7 |
Nottingham Forest |
26.53 |
6.0% |
17.1% |
|
8 |
Manchester City |
26.55 |
12.6% |
17.4% |
|
10= |
Wolverhampton Wanderers |
26.85 |
5.2% |
27.5% |
|
10= |
Sheffield United |
26.85 |
15.6% |
34.2% |
|
11 |
Aston Villa |
26.96 |
0.9% |
21.9% |
|
12 |
Luton Town |
27.04 |
2.0% |
9.4% |
|
13 |
Manchester United |
27.08 |
9.6% |
20.8% |
|
14 |
Brighton |
27.16 |
22.2% |
36.1% |
|
15 |
Liverpool |
27.17 |
4.7% |
32.3% |
|
16 |
Crystal Palace |
27.52 |
1.3% |
33.6% |
|
17 |
Everton |
27.54 |
14.7% |
35.7% |
|
18 |
Newcastle |
27.76 |
5.4% |
39.4% |
|
19 |
West Ham |
28.80 |
0.0% |
27.6% |
|
20 |
Fulham |
29.28 |
0.9% |
36.4% |
*All stats courtesy of CIES Football Observatory and are correct as of 09/10/23.
Aston Villa and Manchester United sit in mid-table, both with similar age profiles across the board. However, Unai Emery has used significantly fewer players aged 21 or under this season, accounting for just 0.9% of minutes played for Villa.
Despite a summer rebuild of Liverpool‘s midfield, they still only sit in 15th with an average age of 27.17. With the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch coming in, a lower total might have been expected, but the regular minutes played by Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson have raised the age profile.
Newcastle United and West Ham United have shown more experienced squads can come in handy, sitting in 18th and 19th respectively. Both sides have made strong starts to the season, although David Moyes is yet to use a single player 21 or under this season, which could lead to fatigue and injuries later down the line.
The likes of Everton, Fulham and Crystal Palace may be worried about their ageing squads given their mixed starts to the season. The Cottagers sit rock bottom of the youth table and are the only team with an average age of over 29 so far this season. Perhaps Marco Silva needs some young reinforcements in January.
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