Twenty brightest starlets in football have been shortlisted for this year’s Golden Boy award with Arsenal youngsters conspicuously missing.
Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham and Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala are the standout nominees for this award.
There are only two active Premier League players on the shortlist, Liverpool’s Fabio Carvalho and Leeds United’s Wilfried Gnonto, who joined their current clubs in the summer from Fulham and FC Zurich respectively.
The award was started in 2003 by Italian newspaper, Tuttosport, with experts from across Europe now voting to name the continent’s best young player.
All the nominees must be playing in one of the top tiers of a European league system and be under the age of 21.
Previous recipients of the award include Wayne Rooney (2004), Lionel Messi (2005) and Paul Pogba (2013).
Barcelona star Pedri won last year’s award, with the 19-year-old again nominated this year, alongside two of his team-mates.
While he remains a starter for Barca, Pedri’s chances may be hit by the fact he has spent much of the year on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
Barcelona are the most-represented club on the shortlist with four players.
Here is the final list of nominees:
- Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund, Red Bull Salzburg)
- Antonio Silva (Benfica)
- Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
- Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid)
- Fabio Carvalho (Liverpool, Fulham)
- Ansu Fati (Barcelona)
- Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds United, FC Zurich)
- Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich, Ajax)
- Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig)
- Fabio Miretti (Juventus)
- Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
- Nico (Valencia, Barcelona)
- Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain)
- Pedri (Barcelona)
- Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta)
- Benjamin Sesko (Red Bull Salzburg)
- Mathys Tel (Bayern Munich, Rennes)
- Destiny Udogie (Udinese)
- Nicola Zalewski (Roma)
- Gavi (Barcelona)
