As a teenager, the world was at Matthew Briggs’ feet.
After all, why wouldn’t it have been given he became the youngest-ever Premier League player in May 2007.
Playing against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium, Fulham prodigy Briggs came on in the 77th minute for Mortiz Volz aged just 16 years and 65 days.
It was a record Briggs held until Harvey Elliott came along in May 2019 to make his Premier League debut aged 16 years and 30 days.
The record now belongs to Arsenal wonderkid Ethan Nwaneri, who debuted aged 15 years and 181 days against Brentford in September 2022.
Unfortunately for Briggs, his career never materialised into the one he and so many would have envisioned when he came off the bench against Middlesbrough.
Speaking to talkSPORT in 2019, Briggs opened up on why things never quite worked out.
“When I look back on my career, 16 years and 65 days, it’s such a young age,” Briggs said.
“And I know everyone’s journey is different and everyone’s story is different.
“But for me, I feel like I got too much, too young and maybe the support system around me wasn’t good enough. Being a young boy, a teenager, and then being thrown in to a man’s game, it’s quite daunting for a young kid. I didn’t really know how to handle it.
“When you’re a young kid, you dream to play at a top level. When you’re actually in that, it’s an unbelievable feeling.
“It’s not just on the pitch. It’s all different types of scenarios that you have to cope with.”
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Owing to his status as one of the hottest talents in the game as a teen, it was no surprise an English giant like Manchester United kept tabs on Briggs.
But when Fulham spurned their advances, it wrecked Briggs.
“At the time, Manchester United was interested in me,” Briggs said.
“As a young child, that was my dream, to play for United. As soon as I heard Manchester United were interested in me, I’m like, ‘Right, I want to go.’ I was ready, packed.
“But obviously when Fulham didn’t want me to go and wouldn’t allow me to go, that affected me mentally. I’d become down about it. I let it affect my mood in football, it wasn’t quite at it.
“Head was gone.”
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Briggs ultimately went on to make just 30 appearances in total for Fulham before he was released after 13 years at Craven Cottage in 2014 and joined Millwall.
Stints at Colchester United, Chesterfield and Barnet followed before things came to a head in 2018.
Speaking to Rising Ballers, Briggs opened up on how he became completely disillusioned with football and the devastating impact it had on his life.
“Nothing was working, lost the hunger for it,” Briggs said.
“I had a lifestyle that I could no longer maintain because of the money I was now earning. It all got too much.
“I just lost myself and I disconnected from friends, I disconnected from family because I feel like I let them down. I couldn’t face anyone, anymore.
“That’s when I turned to drugs, I turned to alcohol just to numb it all. I even was suicidal at one point. I remember being on holiday in Dubai and just thinking about ending it all. Luckily security guards came in and got me down and moved my room to a bottom floor.”
Briggs was thankfully provided with therapy and counselling through the Professional Footballer’s Association (PFA), which helped him to ‘get my mind right’.
So too did a stint working for his uncle on a building site.
When he first moved in with his uncle and aunt, Briggs conceded he would ‘sit with my hood up in the dark.’
“The TV wasn’t even on, I was just sat there doing nothing,” Briggs said.
“After a week, my uncle was like, ‘Matthew, you can’t do this no more. This ain’t healthy, this ain’t good for you. It’s making us feel uncomfortable.’
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“He said, ‘You’re not doing this no more, I’m not going to let you sit in here and do this.’”
Briggs’ uncle decided he would bring his nephew to a construction site to do some labouring work for £80 a day.
Being back in the sunlight and around other people helped Briggs to open up to others but, perhaps more importantly, reflect on his career.
“I always say no disrespect to construction, because what they do is brilliant and I learned a lot of life skills doing it,” Briggs said.
“But I remember walking across the building site of a breeze block, pouring with rain. I was holding this breeze block and I was thinking, ‘How have I ended up in this situation?’
“I was the youngest player in the Premier League, dubbed next England captain. Now I’m in a building site carrying a breeze block, not playing for a club, not earning the money I was once on before, and I thought, ‘Nah, this ain’t it.’”
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Briggs would return to football ahead of the 2018/19 season with eighth-tier side Maldon and Tiptree.
He went on to play in the Danish top tier with Vejle BK and even represented Guyana internationally before his retirement in 2023.
Since he hung up the boots, Briggs became a player care mentor for Fulham and is also an insurance broker.
