10 Premier League strikers that proved age doesn't matter

#1. Peter Beardsley (Newcastle United)

Peter Beardsley of Newcastle United and Des Walker of Sheffield Wednesday

If Mike Ashley needs reminding what impact a player in his thirties can make, he doesn’t need to look much further than the club he currently owns. When Peter Beardsley arrived as a 32-year-old, he was no longer an England regular and could easily be mistaken for being past his prime. It would have been easy to question such an expensive acquisition (yes, £1.5 million was a lot in those days!), however, Beardsley proved any doubters wrong by becoming an integral part of Kevin Keegan’s now famous ‘Entertainers’. During Newcastle’s maiden Premier League season in 1993/94, his strike partnership with Andy Cole set a Premier League goal-scoring record with 55 goals between the pair – a tally that has not been broken since, and only once been genuinely troubled by Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge in Liverpool’s near-title run 20 years later. He also captained the side as they narrowly missed out on the title to Manchester United in 1995/96. After scoring 56 goals in 157 appearances across four seasons, Beardsley was sold to Bolton Wanderers for £450,000 but later returned to the club as a coach between 2001 and 2019.