Nyoni makes history by breaking record held for 33 years

Trey Nyoni came off the bench in Liverpool’s final league phase clash in the Champions League at PSV Eindhoven, in doing so breaking a 33-year-old record.

Nyoni replaced Andy Robertson after 64 minutes in Eindhoven, with the left-back therefore expected to start away to Bournemouth on Saturday.

It came with four Champions League debuts on the night for Liverpool, with Nyoni and later Amara Nallo joining starters Jayden Danns and James McConnell in making their European bow.

Not only that, in coming on in the Champions League, Nyoni became the club’s youngest-ever player in European competition.

He broke a record held for almost 33 years by Phil Charnock, who was 17 years and 215 days old when he replaced Steve Harkness in a 6-1 victory over Apollon Limassol in the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1992.

Nyoni’s achievement comes 213 days after his 17th birthday, with the midfielder not turning 18 until the end of June.

Liverpool’s top five youngest European appearance-makers also includes Raheem Sterling, Michael Owen and Ben Doak, with Stefan Bajcetic previously holding the Champions League record.

It came in Nyoni’s fifth outing for Liverpool’s first team and less than 18 months after he completed his move from Leicester in 2023.

There are very high hopes for the versatile midfielder within Arne Slot‘s staff, which showed as he started against Southampton in the Carabao Cup earlier in the season.

Nyoni’s debut for the club came under Jurgen Klopp, with his outing against Southampton in the FA Cup in February 2024 making him Liverpool’s joint-fourth youngest player of all time (16 years, eight months, eight days).

Jerome Sinclair (16 years, six days) remains the youngest player to ever represent Liverpool in a competitive game, having set that record against West Brom in the League Cup in 2012.