Five times teen sensations burst onto the scene and became superstars
- Nathan Ridley
- 22 January 2021
From Rooney to the great Pele, some of soccer's biggest legends have made a great impression from a young age...we've taken a look at five of the best.
"You won't win anything with kids," goes Alan Hansen's infamous phrase, an iconic precursor to Manchester United's Class of 92's era of dominance.
However, after a near record 30-game winless run in the Bundesliga, Schalke needed a kid to save them on Saturday.
The Gelsenkirchen-based club got their first league win in a year thanks to the heroics of 19-year-old American starlet Matthew Hoppe, who scored a hat trick in the 4-0 thrashing of Hoffenheim to fully announce himself in Germany's top flight.
The California kid isn't the only teen to burst onto the scene in dramatic fashion so today, Planet Sport is taking a look at five times teenagers exploded onto the world stage.
From unknown quantity to unstoppable quality
Every football fan has heard of Pele but ahead of the 1958 World Cup, not many besides South Americans had.
Brazil, who had yet to lift the Jules Rimet, travelled to Sweden with a racially diverse squad having stumbled through qualifying before drawing their first two group games of the finals against England and Austria.
A 17-year-old Pele, recovering from a knee injury, had yet to be selected by boss Vicente Feola in either outing and the Selecao needed victory against the USSR in a decisive Group 4 match.
Feola selected the teenager for the two-goal Vava-inspired victory and Pele impressed, going on to become the youngest goal scorer in the tournament's short history in the quarterfinal as he netted the tie's only strike against Wales.
Then came France in the final four, who he hit a hat trick against to truly announce himself, before scoring a brace in the final to beat hosts Sweden, sending shockwaves across Europe and the footballing world.
During preparations for the tournament, he and teammate Garrincha - also a Selecao icon - were labelled as ill-disciplined by a psychologist but both proved to be important players in Brazil's first triumph, as Pele went on to win two more World Cups of their total five over the course of a record-breaking career.
Shearer guns Arsenal down
Have you heard of Danny Wallace? Well, if it wasn't for his absence in Southampton's 1988 home match against Arsenal, the English top flight might have a different legendary leading goal scorer.
Alan Shearer, just 17 at the time and being paid £35 per week as an academy player, was selected to start by Saints manager Chris Nicholl on the morning of the match and produced an amazing hat trick to reward his gaffer's faith.
Shearer took just five minutes to get his first senior goal in his inaugural start after a few berths from the bench in previous matches, before making it 2-1 on the half-hour mark.
The Wallsend Boys Club product - a popular academy setup in his native North East - then only needed four second-half minutes to grab a third, breaking World Cup winner Jimmy Greaves' record as the youngest player to score three in an English top tier clash.
Running off in ecstasy, his iconic one-armed celebration would become a staple of English football for the next 18 years at the Dell, Blackburn Rovers and hometown club Newcastle United.
This was a full debut to remember, and like Hoppe, a hat trick to go down in the history books.
Dutch courage
Now to one of the Netherlands' finest ever frontmen, and when Ajax manager Louis van Gaal turned to Patrick Kluivert - only 18 years old - in the 1995 Champions League final against holders AC Milan, a superstar emerged.
Scoring the only goal of the tight game, Kluivert made an impact 15 minutes following his 70th-minute introduction to get on the scoresheet, latching onto Frank Rijkaard's pass to net five minutes from time as the youthful Dutch side lifted their most recent European trophy.
Having beaten Fabio Capello's stars 2-0 twice at the group stage, the Italian giants were hoping for a third time lucky versus the Eredivisie side but were thwarted by a youngster who the San Siro crowd would one day call their own.
Kluivert was one of many academy graduates in a starting XI boasting an average age of 23 in Vienna, as Ajax managed to overcome the likes of Franco Baresi, Marcel Desailly and Paolo Maldini, with a team in which many would also go on to be employed by Milan's red half.
Having turned his shirt around during his celebration to show the world his name, the teenager became the poster boy for Holland's 'Golden Generation' overnight, winning his only Champions League crown of an injury-hit career which promised much more than it delivered.
Parma prodigy between the posts
We've concentrated on goal scorers so far, but let's look at shot stoppers for our next pick.
Taking a break from the ball hitting back of the net, Gianluigi Buffon has been the bane of Serie A strikers since 1995 with a clean sheet on his debut aged only 17 against AC Milan - sorry again, Rossoneri supporters.
Legendary Italian goalkeeper and manager Dino Zoff described Buffon's beastly display by saying: "I've never seen a debut like his for the personality and quality he showed."
That first senior appearance was one of countless wall-like performances over the years but the current Juventus keeper, still active at 42, only managed eight more games that season for the Italian outfit.
Stunning saves against Ballon d'Or winners Roberto Baggio and George Weah denied the then Champions League runners up a goal as the future World Cup winner, 10-time Serie A victor and record appearance maker in Italy's top flight exploded between the posts.
Remember the name
Arsenal fans, you can join Milan in despairing over this list.
For arguably *the* burst-onto-the-scene moment in Premier League history (maybe check with Roy Keane on that terminology), we go back to October 19, 2002.
We're also going full circle with a Toffee twist, as 16 years old Wayne Rooney broke a 30-game unbeaten run for Arsene Wenger's men with his beloved boyhood Everton.
David Moyes decided to chuck the teenager on for the final 10 minutes at Goodison Park, hoping to find a winner against the Gunners.
Thomas Gravesen's aimless punt was perfectly controlled by the to-be Premier League legend, as Rooney rifled a shot from 25 yards past David Seaman to send the Gwladys Street End crowd into delirium as they witnessed English history.
The now Derby County boss would go on to become Manchester United's all-time top goal scorer and when commentator Clive Tyldesley exclaimed three memorable words, we all did 'remember the name.'
Can you think of any other players to have replicated these teens' heroics, becoming A New Hoppe in the process? Let us know!
