Evan Ferguson’s star is one firmly on the rise after the Brighton teenager scored his first Premier League hat-trick against Newcastle at the weekend.

Ferguson has been backed to reach the very top of the game after a superb start to his senior career, with the 18-year-old having now scored 10 league goals since the start of last season.

Just three players have ever scored more Premier League goals before their 19th birthday than Ferguson, who also became just the fourth player to score a hat-trick in the division aged 18 or under.

Appreciating the four players to score a Premier League hat-trick aged 18 or under:

Chris Bart-Williams

Chris Bart-Williams attracted interest from bigger clubs after making his debut for Leyton Orient aged just 16, with the midfielder soon signing for Sheffield Wednesday in a deal worth £275,000.

He helped the Owls to promotion into the top-flight and made his mark during the Premier League’s inaugural season in 1992/93, scoring a hat-trick against Southampton in April.

Bart-Williams drilled in a left-footed first, before sweeping in two close-range finishes to complete his first senior treble and a 5-2 win for Wednesday.

Bright, Bart-Williams, King, Bart-Williams, Bart-Williams…@swfc fans may remember this five-star day #PLMoments pic.twitter.com/k10DKOm2YZ

— Premier League (@premierleague) November 4, 2016

Bart-Williams, who sadly passed away in 2023 aged just 49, later reverted back to a more defensive role as his career progressed, one which saw him represent Nottingham Forest, Charlton and Ipswich Town.

Robbie Fowler

Robbie Fowler scored nine Premier League hat-tricks during a brilliant career in English football’s top division, with only Sergio Aguero (12) and Alan Shearer (11) having earned more match balls in the Premier League era.

Fowler’s first came during a 4-2 win for Liverpool against Southampton in October 1993, as the Toxteth teenager made an immediate impact in the senior side. Fowler had hit the headlines after scoring five goals in a League Cup game against Fulham, just two weeks after a goalscoring debut for the Reds.

His hat-trick against Southampton was just his fifth league appearance for Liverpool, with Fowler’s emergence one of the most exciting of the Premier League era as he scored 30+ goals in each of his first three full seasons at Anfield.

Fowler later scored a stunning hat-trick against Arsenal, scored in just four minutes and 33 seconds, a record which stood for two decades before Sadio Mane hit an even quicker hat-trick for Southampton against Aston Villa in 2015.

Michael Owen

Liverpool might have through Fowler’s emergence as a teenage sensation was a once-in-a-generation event, but just a few years later another starlet progressed rapidly from the Reds’ ranks.

Owen marked his Premier League debut with a goal against Wimbledon aged just 17 and soon became a household name. His first hat-trick came in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday, the first of eight hat-tricks he scored in the Premier League, with only three players having netted more.

He ended the 1997/98 campaign as the joint-leading scorer in the Premier League to win the Golden Boot and PFA Young Player of the Year awards.

After starring for England at that summer’s World Cup in France, scoring that goal against Argentina, he earned a second share of the Golden Boot the following season. He remains the only teenager to have won the accolade.

Owen is also the only Premier League player to have scored multiple hat-tricks aged 18 or under, having scored three trebles before his 19th birthday.

Evan Ferguson

Evan Ferguson has become just the fourth player to score a Premier League hat-trick aged 18 or under, as the Irishman produced a centre-forward clinic against Newcastle last weekend.

Ferguson is the latest emerging talent from the Brighton production line and fast becoming an established name in Roberto De Zerbi’s side. The summer arrival of Joao Pedro increased competition for a place as the Seagulls’ striker, but Ferguson has responded with four goals in four Premier League appearances to open the campaign.

Enjoy Evan’s hat-trick in all its glory! pic.twitter.com/sqaTqlmlAd

— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) September 2, 2023

He has averaged a Premier League goal every 115 minutes since breaking into the Brighton team, an extraordinary rate for a player still supposedly finding their feet at senior level.

Brighton should be braced for big bids in the near future, with the sky appearing the limit for Ferguson on the evidence of his early career.

Read – The Premier League has found its next superstar

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The post Every player to score a Premier League hat-trick aged 18 or under first appeared on The Football Faithful.