Express & Star

Five of Wolves' youngest ever stars to grace Molineux

Morgan Gibbs-White became one of the youngest players in Wolves' history on Saturday.

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The teenager, aged 16 years, 11 months and 11 days, came off the bench during the 2-0 FA Cup victory over Stoke City.

He is the latest academy graduate to make the grade at Wolves.

But who are some of the youngest ever to wear the gold and black? Wolves correspondent Tim Spiers picks out pick of the most notable from years gone by.

Cameron Buchanan

14 years 57 days

Cameron Buchanan

By some distance Buchanan is the youngest player to pull on a Wolves shirt, but as it happened during wartime he doesn't hold the official record.

The Scot was handed his debut against Albion in September 1942 by boss Major Frank Buckley.

He played 18 games for Wolves during the Second World War, scoring six goals including a hat-trick against Southampton in 1945.

Buchanan moved to Bournemouth in 1949 and later retired to work in Scotland as a linen service manager on Tayside.

Jimmy Mullen

16 years 43 days

Jimmy Mullen

One half of Wolves' wing wizards in the early 1950s, Mullen starred on the left wing under Stan Cullis (with Johnny Hancocks on the right) and scored 112 goals in 486 appearances for Wolves, as well as winning 12 England caps.

He also holds the distinction of being, officially, Wolves' youngest ever player, having made his league debut aged just 16 in February 1939 against Leeds.

Just five weeks later he appeared in Wolves' FA Cup semi final win over Grimsby at Old Trafford (a game attended by 76,962 people, which remains a stadium record to this day).

Mullen, who became England's first ever substitute in 1950, won three league titles and one FA Cup with Wolves.

Robbie Keane

17 years 32 days

Robbie Keane on his dream debut at Norwich

The most successful player to graduate from Wolves' academy in the past 20 years, Keane burst onto the scene when he scored twice at Norwich on the opening day of the 1997/98 season.

He netted 11 that season and followed it up with 16 in all competitions the year after, attracting attention from clubs all over Europe.

The world was at his feet but Keane chose to move to Coventry City (they were good once, kids) before later playing for Inter Milan, Leeds Spurs, Liverpool, LA Galaxy and Celtic, West Ham and Villa on loan, notching 317 goals along the way.

Keane, currently on the lookout for a new club aged 36, is Ireland's record cap holder (146) and goalscorer (68).

Tim Flowers

17 years 204 days

Tim Flowers signs pro terms for Wolves aged 17 with manager Tommy Docherty

Tommy Docherty handed Flowers his debut in August 1984 with fellow keepers John Burridge and Paul Bradshaw both injured.

Flowers signed pro terms just five days before the 2-2 draw with Sheffield United but quickly established himself as Wolves' number one despite his tender years.

He played 38 games that season and 25 the year after, before moving to top-flight Southampton where he was understudy to Peter Shilton.

From there Flowers, who won 11 England caps, went to Blackburn Rovers and won the Premier League title in 1995.

Lee Naylor

17 years 207 days

Lee Naylor aged 17 as he makes his debut at Blues

Naylor signed up as a trainee in July 1996 and just over a year later was thrown into a West Midlands derby at Blues in October 1997.

The Bloxwich-born left back was a regular for the next nine seasons and an ever-present in Wolves' 2003/04 Premier League campaign.

He made 334 appearances in total, putting him joint-27th on Wolves' all-time list.

Naylor left Molineux in 2006 to join Celtic. Just a few months later he was playing in the San Siro against AC Milan in a Champions League knockout tie.

Naylor's form that season earned him a nomination for the Scottish player of the year award.

He later played for Cardiff, Accrington Stanley and Derby.

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