August 2020: Aged 16, becomes the first player to be signed by Villa from Exeter City 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.
January 2021: Aged 16, becomes the 293rd Villa Youth player to graduate to the first-team squad.
January 2021: Aged 16, becomes the 958th player to play for Villa in first-team League or Cup football since the club’s first entry into the FA Cup in 1879.
January 2021: Aged 16, becomes the 262nd Villa Youth player to play a first-team game for the club.

Player #958 for Aston Villa, Benjamin Joshua Chrisene known as Ben Chrisene played as a midfielder for the club in the 2020-21 season making his sole appearance in that season’s FA Cup.

Ben was born on 12 January 2004 and signed with Villa from Exeter City as a 16 year old in August 2020 after beating Chelsea and Liverpool to his signature.

Chrisene had joined Exeter City’s Academy at the age of 11 becoming Exeter’s youngest ever player in August 2019 when he made his debut in the EFL Cup against Coventry City at the age of 15 years, seven months and one day.

Chrisene was appointed to Sean Verity’s Under 18 squad on arrival before Mark Delaney promoted Chrisene to the first team squad and giving him his first team debut in the 2020-21 season aged 17 in the 1-4 FA Cup defeat to Liverpool on Friday, 8 January 2021.

Chrisene was part of the youngest ever team to ever take the field for Villa in a professional game - aged 18.8 years on average - after the first team squad was forced into isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic which had seen a raft of players and staff testing positive for the virus in the week preceding the game.

Chrisene was also one of 16 debutants in the game - the most in a single game in Villa’s history and was also part of the starting XI made up of 11 debutants, the first time this had happened since Villa’s first professional fixture - also in the FA Cup - on Saturday, 13 December 1879 against Stafford Road. Chrisene made his debut appearance under caretaker manager Mark Delaney following Dean Smith having to join the first team in isolation.

The Birmingham Mail described Chrisene’s debut thus:

“Chrisene was signed from Exeter in the summer amid interest from the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea. He’s really calm on the ball and is Gareth Barry-esque in his approach; tidy, neat in possession and a good left foot. Chrisene was one of two 16-year-old’s in the starting XI.”

Although Chrisene is most comfortable in central midfield he has been used, and performed well, at left back in shades of another precocious teenager of an earlier era - Gareth Barry.

Chrisene signed professional forms with Villa just days after his debut in January 2021 with Villa’s Academy manager Mark Harrison saying:

“Since Ben joined us from Exeter at the beginning of the season, he has played regularly for the Under-18s and just before Christmas he played for the Under-23s on a couple of occasions, still aged only 16.

“He has played the majority of games at left-back and we have been very pleased with his development.”

After loans to Kilmarnock 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 for the 2022-23 season and Blackburn Rovers 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in 2023-24, Ben was sold in July 2024 under Unai Emery for a fee of €1.80m to Norwich City 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 aged 20.