Premier League Most Substitute Appearances: Minutes Test
By Arasi Rex · Updated 15 August 2026 · 6 min read
Callum Wilson made 32 appearances for West Ham and played 1,267 minutes. The gap between those two numbers is where any Premier League most substitute appearances conversation has to start.
Key numbers
Appearances alone overstate how much a forward plays. The top scorers list includes 30 players, and the minutes column separates the starters from the impact options.
- Callum Wilson: 32 appearances, 7 goals, 1,267 minutes.
- Noah Okafor: 28 appearances, 8 goals, 1,573 minutes.
- Beto: 37 appearances, 9 goals, 1,614 minutes.
- Benjamin Sesko: 30 appearances, 11 goals, 1,636 minutes.
- Junior Kroupi: 33 appearances, 13 goals, 1,690 minutes.
- Hugo Ekitiké: 28 appearances, 11 goals, 1,810 minutes.
- Thierno Barry: 38 appearances, 8 goals, 1,932 minutes.
Those are the lowest minutes totals in the top scorers data, but minutes alone can mislead. A player with 20 appearances and 1,798 minutes is not an impact substitute. The better test is minutes per appearance. The table below ranks the players with the lowest minutes per game in the top scorers data.
| Player | Team | Appearances | Goals | Minutes | Minutes per appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Callum Wilson | West Ham | 32 | 7 | 1,267 | 39.6 |
| Beto | Everton | 37 | 9 | 1,614 | 43.6 |
| Thierno Barry | Everton | 38 | 8 | 1,932 | 50.8 |
| Junior Kroupi | Bournemouth | 33 | 13 | 1,690 | 51.2 |
| Benjamin Sesko | Man Utd | 30 | 11 | 1,636 | 54.5 |
| Noah Okafor | Leeds | 28 | 8 | 1,573 | 56.2 |
| Nick Woltemade | Newcastle | 33 | 8 | 1,939 | 58.8 |
| Richarlison | Spurs | 32 | 11 | 1,957 | 61.2 |
Top performers
Callum Wilson is the first name in any Premier League most substitute appearances conversation from this data. He made 32 appearances, which looks like a regular season for a forward. His 1,267 minutes tell a different story. West Ham finished 18th with 39 points, so Wilson's 7 goals were a meaningful return from a player who was not on the pitch for full matches.
Beto is the next example. He made 37 appearances for Everton and scored 9 goals in 1,614 minutes. His minutes per appearance of 43.6 is not close to a starter's workload. No team uses a starting striker for only 1,614 minutes across 37 league games. The high appearance count hides a managed role. Everton finished 13th, and Beto's goals came in short bursts rather than across full matches.
Junior Kroupi is the most efficient scoring story in the data. He scored 13 goals in 1,690 minutes for Bournemouth. Only four players in the top scorers list scored more: Thiago with 22, Ollie Watkins with 16, Joao Pedro with 15 and Viktor Gyökeres with 14. Every one of those players played at least 2,254 minutes. Kroupi reached 13 goals in far less time. If he was being used as a substitute, that is a serious bench weapon.
Benjamin Sesko's 11 goals in 1,636 minutes should make Manchester United's striker planning interesting. Bryan Mbeumo scored 11 for Manchester United in 2,621 minutes. Matheus Cunha scored 10 in 2,503. Sesko matched Mbeumo's goal total in considerably fewer minutes, and finished as one of the most efficient scorers at the club in this data.
Hugo Ekitiké had the fewest appearances of any player with 11 or more goals: 28. He scored 11 for Liverpool in 1,810 minutes. Liverpool finished fifth with 60 points, and their highest scorer in the top scorers data did not need a full workload to get there.
Noah Okafor is the less obvious name. His 8 goals for Leeds came in 1,573 minutes across 28 appearances. Leeds finished 14th, and Okafor was still producing more goals than several forwards who played far more.
What it means for the Premier League most substitute appearances
The Premier League most substitute appearances question cannot be answered with a definitive count from this data. No column separates starts from substitute appearances, and a low minutes total can also mean a player who starts and gets substituted early. But the pattern across the lowest minutes-per-appearance figures is too clear to ignore.
Managers use limited-minute forwards for a reason. They know a fresh forward against tired defenders can change a match. Wilson, Beto and Kroupi all have the goal numbers to support that idea. Beto made 37 appearances and Thierno Barry made 38, yet both played less than 2,000 minutes each. Everton were not hiding them; they were using them as options.
The champions provide the contrast. Arsenal finished with 85 points and Manchester City had 78. Their top scorer in this data, Viktor Gyökeres, played 2,254 minutes in 36 appearances, an average of 62.6 minutes per appearance. He was a starter. The team that won the title did not need its leading scorer to come off the bench. The teams closer to the bottom did.
That is not a claim that substitute appearances cause worse league finishes. It is a claim about squad structure. When a team's main scorers are available for only part of a match, the team is either managing injuries, rotating heavily, or using forwards as finishers. All three are legitimate. The data just makes the workload visible.
For a forward, minutes are the currency. A 30-appearance season can hide a player who only played around half the available time. Callum Wilson's 32 appearances and 1,267 minutes is the clearest example in the top scorers data. He was not an ever-present striker. He was an impact player with a proven ability to score in the time he got.
Key takeaways
- Callum Wilson had the lowest minutes per appearance among the top 30 scorers: 39.6 from 32 appearances and 1,267 minutes for West Ham.
- Beto scored 9 goals for Everton from 1,614 minutes, a workload that suggests a substitute role rather than a starting one.
- Junior Kroupi scored 13 goals in 1,690 minutes; only four players scored more and all played at least 2,254 minutes.
- Benjamin Sesko's 11 goals came in 1,636 minutes, fewer than Bryan Mbeumo's 2,621 for the same goal total.
- The Premier League most substitute appearances answer is not in a dedicated column, so minutes per appearance is the best available proxy.
FAQ
Who has the most substitute appearances in the Premier League?
The data does not include a separate substitute appearances count. Based on the minutes column, Callum Wilson is the best answer: 32 appearances but only 1,267 minutes for West Ham.
How do you identify a substitute from appearances and minutes?
A player with many appearances and relatively few minutes is the easiest signal. Beto made 37 appearances for Everton but played only 1,614 minutes, which is not a full starter's workload.
Which forward scored at the best rate among the limited-minute players?
Junior Kroupi scored 13 goals in 1,690 minutes for Bournemouth. The league's top scorer, Thiago, scored 22 in 3,295 minutes, but Kroupi needed far fewer minutes to reach 13.
Why does the minutes column matter for substitute appearances?
Appearances count every game a player is used. Minutes show how much football they actually played. For forwards, the gap between the two numbers reveals who was being used as an impact player.