Positives were in short supply in Brighton & Hove Albion’s home defeat by rivals Crystal Palace, but another entry into the club record books for Harry Howell showed that he is a teenager to watch.
Howell became Brighton’s youngest Premier League player as an 84th minute substitute against Liverpool last May. On that occasion he went on with cousin Jack Hinshelwood, who scored the winner a minute later in a 3-2 victory. That was eclipsed by Howell becoming the club’s youngest Premier League starter, aged 17 and 294 days, in Sunday’s 1-0 loss at the Amex Stadium.
He overtook the mark set by Evan Ferguson, the Republic of Ireland striker on loan at Roma for the season. Ferguson was 18 and 76 days when he scored on his full debut in the top flight in a 4-1 win at Everton in January 2023.
Howell did not make the same impact nor enjoy being part of the same type of result as Ferguson, but he did enough in the 71 minutes that he was on the pitch to indicate that he has a bright future.
There are two ways of looking at the selection by head coach Fabian Hurzeler of Howell on the right wing together with 18-year-old Greek centre forward Charalampos Kostoulas, who made his second Premier League start.
Naive, given the context of the rivalry with Palace and the poor run of form for Hurzeler’s side — as Wayne Rooney suggested on pundit duty for Match of the Day — or refreshing. Howell did not pull up any trees, but he did not look overawed by the occasion. It could be interpreted as a compliment to the scale of his potential that Hurzeler picked him after so little recent game time.
Howell had played only three full matches in sporadic appearances for the under-18s and under-21s since a back injury earlier in the season interrupted his momentum. They included scoring twice in a 5-2 win at Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the FA Youth Cup in December. He had been on the bench in the Premier League twice this season, as an unused sub in January draws against Manchester City and Everton.
“For me it’s not about age, it’s about quality,” Hurzeler, only 32 himself, told Sky Sports before the Palace game about the selection of Howell and Kostoulas. “They both showed unbelievable quality during the week and I always want to emphasise how important training is for me, because training is an opportunity for players to show themselves. They both deserve to be on the pitch and I have big belief and trust in them, otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen them.”
The season started well for the Worthing-born talent, having signed his first professional contract last July until 2028, when he provided two assists in a 6-0 romp at Oxford United in the Carabao Cup in August, followed by a goal at Barnsley in another victory by the same score in the same competition in September.
Howell is congratulated by Brighton team-mates Danny Welbeck and James Milner after scoring against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup (George Wood/Getty Images)
Then came the back problem which prevented Howell from playing for England in the Under-17 World Cup in Qatar in November alongside Brighton team-mate and central defender Freddie Simmonds.
On Sunday, Howell did not get much change out of Palace’s left-back Tyrick Mitchell, but there were flashes of his ability on the ball before making way in the second half for Yankuba Minteh. Socks rolled down, he has a sharp change of direction on the turn. He also demonstrated a good attitude out of possession in the first half, giving the ball away to Mitchell when there was an opportunity to release team-mate Ferdi Kadioglu but then chasing back to concede a throw-in with a blocking challenge.
During the second half, Lewis Dunk had enough faith in Howell when the captain was playing out from the back to feed him with a pass with Mitchell at his back, safe in the knowledge that he would protect possession.
“He showed he can handle it, I thought he did well,” Dunk said afterwards to BBC Radio Sussex. “He’s an incredible talent, probably one of the best I have seen to come out of the academy. What this kid can achieve is high level. There’s loads more to come from him.”
Howell’s chances of game time have increased after Brajan Gruda’s loan departure back to Germany with RB Leipzig at the end of the January transfer window — Gruda made an 82 minute debut in their 2-1 win at Koln in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Hurzeler is likely to alternate between Howell and Minteh, who is feeling his way back from a thigh injury, in the league at Aston Villa on Wednesday and in the fourth round of the FA Cup against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday evening. Another happy memory of facing Liverpool would be a tonic for Howell in the early stages of his first team journey and, more significantly, for Hurzeler after the flak received by the German from home fans against Palace.
“I understand their frustration, but I don’t think it’s down to him,” Dunk said after one win in the last 12 league matches. “It’s a group of players that are not performing and we’re not winning games. I understand managers take flak, but we need to do more as a group, to perform better to win games.”