England's 5 Greatest Wonderkids (& Where Jude Bellingham Ranks)

In this post, we are taking a look at England’s 5 greatest wonderkids as the Three Lions get ready for Euro 2024.

England go into this Euros as favourites at 3/1 in the betting and one of the players expected to shine for them in this tournament is 20-year-old sensation Jude Bellingham.

The young star was a key player for Real Madrid this season on their way to Champions League and La Liga titles. If England win the Euros then Bellingham will be in with a great chance of securing this season’s Ballon d’Or.

So is Bellingham England’s greatest ever wonderkid? Find out how he stacks up against England’s other great youth sensations below.

England’s 5 Greatest Wonderkids Ranked

5. Theo Walcott

Following his performances with Southampton in the 2005/06 season where Walcott became the youngest-ever player with the Southampton first team, at 16 years and 143 days, it wasn’t long before big clubs came calling and Arsenal beat off the signature of Liverpool and Chelsea to sign him that January.

Following a sub appearance for England B on the 25th of May 2006, 5 days later he became England's youngest-ever senior football player, aged 17 years and 75 days appearing in a friendly win over Hungary. He was subsequently named in the 2006 World Cup squad as one of two strikers with Peter Crouch but was not given minutes in the tournament, Eriksson defended his decision, claiming that the experience would serve Walcott well for future tournaments.

He was then dropped back to the U21s by McClaren after he came into the senior setup, but on 15th August 2006, he became the youngest scorer for the 21s. He stayed with that squad for several seasons and he finished runners-up in the U21 Euros in 2009 when they lost 4-0 to Germany in the final.

He eventually found his way back to the senior team and on the 6th of September 2008, he made his first competitive start in a World Cup qualifier against Andorra, and in the following match against Croatia on 10 September he opened his senior international goals tally and became the youngest player in history to score a hat-trick for England.

However, Walcott despite having a brilliant career, arguably never lived up to the hype surrounding him and on the 18th of August 2023, he announced his retirement from football, bringing an end to a career that spanned 563 club appearances and 47 England caps.

4. Jack Wilshere

From two of England’s most successful “wonder kids” (Rooney and Owen) to the current superstar Jude Bellingham, one midfielder who failed to live up to his early career promise is former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere who is still only (32

Wilshere was highly thought of from underage England sides having consistently played a year group above his age, 14 playing for the U16s at 15 when he started with the U17s. At the Euro 2009 U17 Championship he started the first two matches, particularly impressing in the second match against Germany before going off with an injury which kept him out of the final match. After the tournament, he was named among the 10 future stars of the tournament. He was capped by the U21s as a sub the following September.

He was called up to the Seniors for the first time on August 7th 2010 and replaced Gerrard as a substitute becoming the 10th-youngest player ever to play for England, at the age of 18 years and 222 days. He did well in his first friendly against Denmark but was injured during the 2012 qualifying campaign he returned on 6th February 2013 his first start since 2011 becoming Man of the Match against Brazil. He played his part in their 2014 World Cup squad but the highlight of his England career came during Euro 2016 qualifying where he was Man of the Match in 6/7 of the qualifying games.

Despite his blindingly obvious talents, Wilshere retired in 2022 at 30 due to persistent injuries. Those injuries hampered his club career where he played a little over 200 times in 14 years and was capped 34 times by England scoring twice. Today he manages Arsenal U18s.

3. Jude Bellingham

Third on this list is the only currently active footballer and he has a major opportunity to climb to the top of this list if he can bring England to success at Euro 2024. We are of course talking about Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham.

The 20-year-old started his international journey by making waves in the underage ranks from U15-U21 level. He would make his breakthrough into the Senior setup in November 2020 getting called up for the first time and making his debut against the Republic of Ireland (who he was also eligible for) in a 3-0 win at 17 years, and 136 days, he became England's third-youngest full international; only Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney had appeared at a younger age.

When he came on as an 82nd-minute substitute in England's opening match, a 1–0 win over Croatia at Wembley on 13 June, aged 17 years and 349 days, he became both the youngest Englishman to play at any major tournament and the youngest of any nationality to play at a European Championship.

This might be the beginning of his career, but following 29 Caps and 3 Goals already, if he could lead England to a Euro 2024 title, those performances would put him ahead of Rooney and Owen and crown him as “England’s” Greatest Ever Wonderkid”.

2. Michael Owen

England's Second Greatest-Ever Wonderkid is Owen who was a fan-favourite at underage level before being selected for the senior squad with England for the first -time making his debut in February 1998 in a 2-0 friendly loss to Chile which made him (at the time) the youngest player to represent England in the 20th century at 18 years and 59 days of age

He would be selected by Glenn Hoddle for the 1998 World Cup Squad becoming England's youngest ever player at a World Cup when he came on as a sub in the opening game against Tunisia. In the following game, he scored off the bench against Romania making him their youngest ever goalscorer in the tournament at the age of 18 years and 190 days.

Owen retained his place in the team for the next game against Colombia which they won before he was again started for Argentina. Despite the South American side leading in the 6th minute, Owen won a penalty in the 16th minute which Shearer converted and he gave England the lead with a sensational solo goal which in 2013 would be voted as the third-greatest in England's history. England eventually went out on penalties despite Owen dispatching his spot-kick. At the end of the year, he won BBC Personality of the Year.

Michael would represent England 89 times from 1998-2008 a decade-long career at the top level of International Football where he scored 40 goals making him his country's 6th highest scorer.

1. Wayne Rooney

The original “Boy Wonder” and in my opinion England’s Greatest-Ever Wonderkid is Wayne Rooney. He became the youngest player to play for England when he earned his first cap in a friendly defeat against Australia coming off the bench on 12 February 2003 at 17 years and 111 days.

Rooney became England’s youngest competitive starter Turkey on 2 April 2003 beating Duncan Edwards's previous record. On 6 September of that year, aged 17 years and 317 days, he became the youngest player to score for England, equalising in a 2–1 away victory over Macedonia in a UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying match.

His first tournament came at Euro 2004 when he briefly became the youngest scorer in the competition's history scoring against Switzerland before the record was broken a few days later. Rooney also scored a brace against Croatia before he got injured in the Quarter-Final against Portugal with England eventually eliminated on penalties After scoring four goals in four matches, Rooney was named in UEFA's Team of the Tournament.

Rooney made 19 appearances before he turned 19 himself an extraordinary feat and would go on to have a brilliant career with England playing 120 times (2003-2018) putting him 2nd on the All-Time Appearance List and his 53 Goals (which was the record) is only bettered by Harry Kane who has 63 and counting.