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The Premier League is officially the youngest it has ever been in its 33-year history. Arsenal's 15-year-old Max Dowman and Liverpool teenager Rio Ngumoha have notably hit the headlines, but a growing number of starlets have been given the chance to thrive at the highest level. In the first three rounds of the season, the 20 top-flight teams have fielded the youngest average starting XI's in Premier League history at 26 years and 217 days. It is a developing trend after last season saw an average starting XI age of 26 years and 273 days - three days younger than the previous record set in the 2007-08. "It's great for when you exist in the world that I do, " Manchester City's Elite Development Squad manager Ben Wilkinson told BBC Sport. "For players to begin the journey at under-nines to go on to make Premier League appearances - the statistics are really, really slim. "It's encouraging for sure. .. in terms of developing players and trying to convince players that there is a pathway to play in the Premier League. " Send us your questions Chelsea's Brazilian international winger Estevao, 18, has featured in all three Premier League matches this season Why are players being given the chance to make an impact from an earlier age? It is in part down to the business and recruitment side of the game. Some clubs are investing finances and time into buying players from a young age, then throwing them into the first-team picture. At Manchester City, Wilkinson has seen Rico Lewis, James Mc Atee, Nico O'Reilly and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey graduate to the first team. "There's always been a desire for clubs to develop their own players, " Wilkinson explained. "Now, I think [there is a] desire for ownership models to be buying young players, recruiting young players, developing players, [giving them] long contracts, looking for value both initially in the market and then, potentially resale as opposed to buying established talent. " The current business element to the game is one that favours younger players and clubs are seeing the value in that. "Owners and clubs want to make money on players nowadays, " added former Republic of Ireland striker Clinton Morrison, whose Premier League debut for Crystal Palace came shortly before his 19th birthday. "You can sign someone at 20 or 21 and they stay with you for two or three seasons and they can sell them on at a value price. "That's probably a big reason because I still feel you need experienced players. " Another reason is a change in managers' attitudes to playing younger players. "Managers have changed now. Managers are not afraid to put youngsters in, " said Morrison. "Victor Moses was 16 when I was at Palace. He was exceptional when he came into training. "If you have got that special little X-factor then you do give them an opportunity. The younger players now are super talented. "Physically everyone is ready, everyone is raring to go and everyone is good enough. " Liverpool's Rio Ngumoha scored a dramatic winning goal on his Premier League debut against Newcastle in August shortly before turning 17 Ngumoha and Dowman are the two names in particular many are talking about because of how young they are. The two England youth internationals have certainly made an impact in their 28 minutes on the pitch, with the Liverpool teenager scoring the winning goal against Newcastle, and Dowman earning a penalty against Leeds United. Are they exceptions to the rule or the new norm? "I don't think it's going to be a common thing that you're going to get loads and loads of minutes played by players at this age, " said Wilkinson. "This year you've got some exceptional players of that age generation who are probably capable of playing now, but I'm sure you won't see them play a huge amount of minutes over the course of the season. "Those players are probably down on what their match minutes would be from last season because they're not playing in their development football. " Is it just coincidental timing, or have changes in football governance changed the way clubs approach youth development? "I think it's a coincidence, it wasn't always going to happen, " Morrison answered. "A lot of players now are maybe maturing earlier. Unless you were a real superstar, managers weren't ready to throw them into the limelight straight away. "You see players like Jude Bellingham when they burst on to the scene at such a young age, they were ready. " Clubs are consciously trying to make their academy players ready for first-team football, with Manchester City exposing their players more regularly to adult professionals. They play in the EFL Trophy, have entered the Premier League International Cup and also played friendlies against senior sides in pre-season and during the international break. "I think our games programme this year is really, really good in terms of how can we give the lads the best possible programme to kind of edge them closer to that first-team side, " added Wilkinson. "It might mean we are not as successful because we have got some really, really difficult games but, from a development point of view, hopefully the lads will learn more and develop faster. " Brighton are among the most profitable football clubs in Europe due to their success in investing in young players Of the 371 players who have played in the Premier League this season, 52% are aged 25 and under. Also 31% are 23 and under, with 19 teenagers featuring across the 30 matches. Already 11 of the 20 clubs have used at least one teenager in the Premier League this season. Chelsea have used four, with Arsenal fielding three. Chelsea, Brighton and Sunderland are currently the leaders in the youngest Premier League squads, with 70% of their teams under the age of 26. Promoted Leeds have named the oldest squads so far this campaign, with 67% of players aged 26 or over. Fulham's Josh King, 18, has been an ever-present in his side's starting team this term While a number of records have been set already in the Premier League, many fell across the second round of matches. Dowman became the third player to make their Premier League debut aged 15 after team-mate Ethan Nwaneri and Leicester's Jeremy Monga. Ngumoha, now 17, was just the second 16-year-old to score a winning Premier League goal after Wayne Rooney in 2003. At 18, Estevao became the youngest player in Chelsea's history to register a Premier League assist during their 5-1 win over West Ham. Fulham's 18-year-old forward Josh King has also started all three of their top-flight matches. Man City boss Pep Guardiola also named his side's youngest Premier League line-up since October 2010 for their 2-0 defeat by Tottenham. But is there concern about these young stars burning out? "The managers, analysts and physios will be keeping tabs on how many minutes they should play, " said Morrison. "I feel like that has probably happened with [Bukayo] Saka and he has not burnt out, but he's picking up a few injuries now. "I think he has played such a volume of football, being relied on week in, week out. " Aston Villa sold midfielder Jacob Ramsey to Newcastle last month to help comply with the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules Since the introduction of the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), clubs have looked at cashing in on their academy prospects as a way to balance the books. When a club sells players who come through their academy, the value recouped is recorded as 'pure profit' on their balance sheet. The sale of youth graduates has become a key for some teams to stay under the permitted £105m loss over a three-year period. Manchester United sold Alejandro Garnacho in the closing days of this summer's transfer window to Chelsea for £40m in a sale of 'pure profit. ' Chelsea themselves sold more than £100m of academy talent in the last few transfer windows, including England internationals Conor Gallagher and Lewis Hall. Aston Villa and Newcastle have also relied on selling academy players to help comply with PSR regulations. City themselves benefited from the success of their academy financially in the last two years, selling Cole Palmer, Mc Atee, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Shea Charles and Liam Delap in deals totalling more than £120m. "If you look at our model, we've made huge profits from the academy sales in the last five years, " added Wilkinson. "For those players, it was probably unrealistic at that point that in the next six months, they would make the jump into our first team. "There is clear evidence whereby it also benefits the club to sell at the right time to make sure that the accounts are in order come the end of the year. " This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team. Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your questions. We want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you do. The team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and pundits. We will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting events. Our coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and You Tube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio. What is Fifa Intercontinental Cup? What is Ange-ball? Why will September international break be longer from 2026? What do you want to know about your Premier League club? 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