If you're good enough, you're old enough, as the old adage goes, and in the modern game we're seeing countless youngsters show they're more than ready to make the step up while still in their teens.
Though players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have shown that you can play at the top level beyond a more conventional retirement age, there is a growing emphasis on snapping up starlets still in their teens.
We've already seen players too young to legally drink alcohol or even drive thrive on the biggest stages with Lamine Yamal winning the European Championship this summer just a day after his 17th birthday - and he's not the only one.