Alejandro Garnacho’s brilliant start to life as a Manchester United first team player continued with a last-gasp winner against Fulham on Sunday.
The goal was expertly taken and showed off both his lightning quick place and cool head to calm himself in the box. It was an absolutely vital goal given United’s loss at Aston Villa the week prior and their position just outside the top four.
Garnacho’s late intervention made him the sixth youngest scorer for the club in the Premier League era. And while football didn’t start in 1992, and the likes of Geoge Best and Norman Whiteside can’t be forgotten, it remains a significant achievement.
The top 20 youngest goal scorers for United in the Premier League are all teenagers and the majority academy graduates, further proof of the club’s continued promotion of young players. A youth talent has now featured in matchday squads for over 4,000 games and 85 years consecutively, a sequence which started coincidentally at Craven Cottage in October 1937.
Let’s take a look at the players who make up the top 20, when and where they scored their first goal? And where they are now?
20. Nicky Butt – 19 years, 344 days
The first entry from the fabled “Class of 92”, Butt’s breakthrough came in the 1994-1995 season. His first league goal came on New Year’s Eve ’94 in a 2-2 draw at Southampton. He’s been a co-owner of Salford City since 2014, and last month was announced as the club’s new CEO, replacing Gary Neville who had served that role in a part-time capacity in the eight years prior.
19. Paul Scholes – 19 years, 312 days
Butt’s long-time midfield partner and the more attacking of the pair, Scholes scored the first of his 155 goals for United on his league debut in a 3-2 loss to Ipswich Town in September 1994. Since retiring in 2013, he has been a co-owner with Butt, Neville and co. and a pundit for BT Sport, outside of a brief stint as the manager of Oldham Athletic.
18. Phil Jones – 19 years, 285 days
Jones’ first ever career goal was the winner in a 1-0 victory at Villa in December 2011, and for much of his first two seasons at United he looked like a future captain. Sadly, for a player heralded as the “next Duncan Edwards” by Sir Bobby Charlton once upon a time, injuries ravaged his body and he’s now the forgotten man at Old Trafford. An exit surely looms in the coming transfer window(s).
17. Anthony Martial – 19 years, 281 days
Anthony Martial
“Welcome to Manchester, Anthony Martial!!!” – Who could forget Martin Tyler’s reaction to the young Frenchman’s debut goal against Liverpool in September 2015. Since then, Martial has driven fans and managers crazy with his inconsistency and injuries. He seemed certain to depart the club last season but is now an important member of Erik ten Hag’s squad. When fit, anyway.
16. Brandon Williams – 19 years, 259 days
Williams’ sole goal in professional football came in a 3-3 draw at Sheffield United in November 2019. He was a fans’ favourite for his tough tackling and all-action play but has seen his United career peter out since his debut campaign. Injured currently, he is likely to move on either in January or the summer.
15. Keith Gillespie – 19 years, 253 days
Likened to George Best due to being a Northern Irish winger, Gillespie was highly rated by Sir Alex and was ahead of David Beckham for a point. His sole Premier League goal for United came in October 1994 against Newcastle, who he then joined in the deal that saw Andy Cole move to Old Trafford. Gillespie has been open about his major gambling problems, and now works to help others in such difficulties.
14. Anthony Elanga – 19 years, 26 days
The Cameroonian-Swedish-Mancunian’s first goal for United came on the last day of the 2020-21 season at Molineux in a 2-1 victory over Wolves. He has since been a part of the first team squad but mainly as back up player. He started Sunday’s 2-1 win at Craven Cottage.
13. Wayne Rooney – 19 years
Wayne Rooney
The greatest goal scorer in the history of the club with 253 goals and a bona fide legend of the game. Rooney had already scored a hat-trick on his debut for United against Fenerbache, but his first Premier League goal came on his 19th birthday as Arsenal’s 49-game unbeaten run was ended – it was against Arsenal he had scored his first ever goal just over two years earlier. Rooney is now the manager of DC United in the MLS after working a near-miracle at Derby County last season.
12. Ryan Giggs – 18 years, 274 days
Giggs had already scored a league goal for United prior to the dawn of the Premier League but such is the list, he sits in 12th place. His first of 109 Premier League goals came in a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest in September 1992. Giggs most recently was the Wales national team manager but stepped down due to his ongoing court case.
11. Cristiano Ronaldo – 18 years, 269 days
Long before he was doing “explosive” interviews with Piers Morgan, Ronaldo scored his first United and Premier League goal against Portsmouth in November 2003. He has since become the greatest goal scorer in the history of the game but his powers are evidently on the wane, and it is 99.9% likely that he has now played his last game for the club. A World Cup with Portugal, his fifth, will come first.
10. Giuseppe Rossi – 18 years, 257 days
Rossi joined the United academy from Parma in 2004 and little over a year later scored his first Premier League goal, just nine minutes into his debut in a 3-1 win at Sunderland in September 2005. He didn’t quite make the grade at Old Trafford but did earn 30 Italy caps and become a star at Villarreal. After a stint with S.P.A.L. in Italy last season, the 35-year-old is currently clubless.
9. Adnan Januzaj – 18 years, 243 days
Adnan Januzaj
The player being most likened to Garnacho for his brilliant start to Premier League life at Old Trafford. Januzaj, like Rossi, got his first Premier League goal at the Stadium of Light. And then another, as he scored both goals in a 2-1 win in October 2013. He was one of few positives in the David Moyes era but never quite kicked on. After loans with Borussia Dortmund and Sunderland, he found his feet at Real Sociedad before moving to Sevilla last summer.
8. Nick Powell – 18 years, 177 days
Signed from Crewe Alexandra in the summer of 2012, Powell scored nine minutes into his Premier League debut in a 4-0 win against Wigan Athletic in September of the same year. He would play just eight more times for the club, the last bizarrely as a sub to try and rescue United from a Champions League group stage exit at Wolfsburg in December 2015. Powell left the club in 2016, spending three seasons with Wigan before joining Stoke City, where he remains to this day.
7. James Wilson – 18 years, 157 days
Wilson was one of the beneficiaries of Ryan Giggs’ four-game spell in charge at the end of the 2013-14 season, scoring twice on his club debut in a 3-1 win over Hull City in May 2014. He scored just twice more for United and after a string of loans, finally departed the club in 2019. He is now at League One Port Vale after spells with Aberdeen and Salford City.
6. Alejandro Garnacho – 18 years, 135 days
The man (boy?) of the moment. Garnacho added a first Premier League goal to the one he scored against Real Sociedad in the Europa League, which made him the youngest non-English scorer for the club in Europe ahead of George Best. Quite the start for the new kid on the block. Will he be remembered as a great like many on this list, or a flash in the pan like others?
5. Rafael Da Silva – 18 years, 123 days
One half of the only two sets of twins to play for the Manchester United first team (Will and Michael Keane are the other), Rafael opened his Premier League account with a cracking consolation volley at the Emirates in a 2-1 loss to Arsenal in November 2008. He went onto to play 170 games for United and was a firm favourite of the fans and Sir Alex. He was foolishly sold by Louis Van Gaal in 2015, and after several years at Lyon and one with Istanbul Başakşehir, he is now back in his native Brazil with Botafogo.
4. Marcus Rashford – 18 years, 120 days
Marcus Rashford
Rashford scored twice on his Premier League debut in a 3-2 victory over Arsenal in February 2016, following on from his brace on his club debut in the Europa League three nights prior. The whirlwind start has blossomed into a long United career. He most recently scored his 100th goal for the club against West Ham in October. A fourth consecutive major tournament with England also beckons, as Rashford has forced his way into Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad.
3. Mason Greenwood – 18 years, 54 days
Greenwood scored his first Premier League goal in the same game as Brandon Williams, a 3-3 draw at Sheffield United. Regarded as one of the most talented young players that United have produced in years, his career now hangs in the balance after he was suspended by the club in January 2022 following several serious allegations.
2. Danny Welbeck – 17 years, 355 days
Welbeck opened his account for the club with a stunning strike in a 5-0 win against Stoke in November 2008. He went onto score 29 goals for the club but was another who suffered the wrath of Louis Van Gaal, being discarded in 2014. A series of injuries derailed his career at Arsenal and after a year at Watford, he has found a home at Brighton, with whom he tormented United’s defence on the opening day of the season. To this day, he remains “Dat Guy”.
1. Federico Macheda – 17 years, 227 days
An unknown to the vast majority of viewers, Macheda announced his arrival on the Premier League scene in the best way possible – an injury time winner to give United a 3-2 win against Aston Villa at Old Trafford in April 2009. It was arguably the moment United won the title that season. He followed that up with another winner at Sunderland the very next week, but that was the height of his success. He’s played across England and Europe for the likes of QPR, Cardiff, Sampdoria, Stuttgart and Panathinaikos. His current abode is with Turkish outfit Ankaragücü.
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