Age Matters: The Premier League's Youngest and Oldest Squads Revealed

With the 2023/24 Premier League season recently coming to a dramatic conclusion, it is now time to all take a collective breath and although Manchester City will once again be singing to the tune of champions, that is not the only title is up for grabs.

Because within the world of football, there is always the argument between youth and experience and although clubs would love to win trophies with a litany of young precocious talents, this may also be offset by a selection of players who have been there and done it in the past.

Which is arguably something that saw Arsenal fall short at the very last hurdle and with Champions League football acting as a consolation prize, it will go some way to softening the blow of not capturing a first league title in 20 years.

Then again, even second place in the Premier League is not to be sniffed at and with Mikel Arteta cultivating a youthful squad in the red half of North London, he will hope for better fortunes when each of his players are a year older from now.

While with this topic of Arsenal’s young squad being one that is currently up for debate, it also offers us another ideal opportunity to take a data-driven deep dive and this time around we are going to hand out a title based on the average age of the 20 Premier League squads.

Of course, when it comes to age, what is best is ultimately subjective and although we could focus purely on experience, we are going to focus on youth instead. This means without further ado, here is the Premier League table when ranked from the youngest average squad to oldest.

Measure taken on all players who have appeared or that club at any point of the season 

At the top of the pile is none other than Chelsea. At an average age of 22.9, their young Blues have returned to Europe next season, and although they have spent an obscene amount of money over the past couple of years, they have at least put their faith in youth.

Faith that has been repaid to a certain degree and with Mauricio Pochettino being showed the Stamford Bridge exit door in the summer, it is now up to former Leicester manager Enzo Maresca to take on the baton in West London - will he have even better fortunes with this young crop of talent?

Then again, the ability of age can be viewed from the opposing angle and when you look at Burnley’s average it manages to paint a rather different picture – a picture where the central theme is relegation for the Clarets

Throughout the 2023/24 campaign many questioned whether Burnley had the experience to stay up and at an average age of just 24.1 (the second youngest in the division), it is safe to say that they did not. The same could also be said for fellow relegated outfit Sheffield United at 24.9.

But what about the two title challengers who gave us one of the more exciting titles battles of the past few years. Manchester City opted for experience when compared to the Gunners. The former had an average of 26.4, the latter found themselves with an average of 24.8. The third lowest in the division and maybe just one more season away from finally getting their hands on the Premier League title once more.

At the other end of the pile, it is both Fulham and West Ham which had the oldest average ages in the Premier League at 27.1 and 27.5 respectively. Here experience has helped the two teams to another season in the top tier, even if the latter said goodbye to manager David Moyes soon after the season ended.

The Perfect Balance

With that in mind, it is now time to compare each of the average ages in the Premier League to the respective final positions and perhaps more importantly, see if there are any further correlations that we can draw from this.

When looking at the table above, one thing should leap off the page and that is the fact that Manchester City finds themselves neatly within the lower reaches of mid-table – something that suggests that the perfect blend of youth and experience has been combined.

As we now know, if a squad is too young or too old, it will run into trouble. However, with Manchester City having the sixth oldest squad, there was ideal equilibrium in their capture of a sixth Premier League title in seven years.

While it does seem as if experience has aided Aston Villa as the West Midlands outfit managed to earn a first invite to the Champions League and this was courtesy of a fourth-place finish. Unai Emery's men are a current average age of 26.1 and with the seventh oldest team in the top tier.

With this experience, they managed to keep Tottenham at bay in the race for the fourth and when compared to the North London outfit, Spurs average age was 25.2 - maybe thIs team is currently lacking the necessary experience to get into the top four?

Another thing to highlight is the range from top to bottom and with Chelsea being the youngest squad at 22.9 and West Ham the oldest at 27.5, it means there is a 4.6 year difference from the lowest to the highest values. Not a huge number when you consider the ages of Premier League players and footballers in general but an interesting insight nevertheless.

Over or Under

Another thing to consider here, is the makeup of each of the 20 Premier League squads and one way to get a better gauge of how each group is comprised, is by seeing the number of players who are under 25 and then 25 or over. 

Something that with the same sample data available, we have now managed to compile together another table.

Methodology and Contributor Information

All Data for this look at the average ages of Premier league players have been gained from FBRef.com 

Meet The Author

Researched and written by Dan Tracey ahead of Publishing by Steve Madgwick

Dan Tracey is a multi-talented writer, data analyst and podcaster whose six-year career in the sports data sphere has seen incredible successes. From helping UEFA create their annual technical reports to writing articles for Sports Betting Websites including sites like TheLinesUS and Goal - there's no shortage of areas where his expertise shines through! In addition he can be heard on podcasts lending an insightful voice as well as providing weekly betting angles - all culminating with him teaming up OLBG.com in the present day. Simply put: wherever you find angled data being crunched? You'll also likely find Dan not far behind!

Other Articles You may Find Interesting

We have a wide range of statistical articles on Football, the premier League and other divisions, all of which we think you will find interesting if you got this far in this article. Click on a link to read more.

• How much do 3 points cost in the Premier League?
• Premier League's Biggest Earners by Minute
• Which Premier League side travels to most domestically
• What is the value of empty seats in the EPL?
• The UK's Favourite Football Commentators