Golden Boy award 2019: Sports Journalists name their 20-man shortlist for the award of the best young player in Europe

Golden Boy award 2019: Sports Journalists name their 20-man shortlist for the award of the best young player in Europe this year.

The Golden Boy is an award given by Sports Journalists to young footballers who have had an impressive showing in a calendar year (two halves to two separate seasons). The players must ply their trade in one of Europe’s top tier and be under the age of 21.

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The Prize was established by Italian Sports Newspaper Tuttosport in 2003. The award has since grown to include other newspapers such as  Bild (Germany), Blick (Switzerland), A Bola (Portugal), l’Équipe (France), France Football (France), Marca (Spain), Mundo Deportivo (Spain), Ta Nea (Greece), Sport Express (Russia), De Telegraaf (Netherlands), and The Times (United Kingdom) to participate in their voting.

Each juror is allowed to nominate five players, the juror will allocate 10 points to the player that they perceive as the most impressive, 7 for second, 5 third, 3 fourth, and 1 point for fifth most impressive.

20-man Shortlist for the Golden Boy award 2019

These are the players shortlisted for the prestigious award:

1. Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid/Portugal)
2. Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich/Canada)
3. Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan/Italy)
4. Kang-In Lee (Valencia/South Korea)
5. Phil Foden (Manchester City/England)
6. Matteo Guendouzi (Arsenal/France)
7. Erling Haaland (RB Salzburg/Norway)
8. Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen/Germany)
9. Moise Kean (Everton/Italy)
10. Dejan Joveljic (Eintracht Frankfurt/Serbia)
11. Matthijs De Ligt (Juventus/Netherlands)
12. Ansu Fati (Barcelona/Spain)
13. Andriy Lunin (Real Valladolid/Ukraine)
14. Donyell Malen (PSV Eindhoven/Netherlands)
15. Mason Mount (Chelsea/England)
16. Rodrygo (Real Madrid/Brazil)
17. Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund/England)
18. Ferran Torres (Valencia/Spain)
19. Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid/ Brazil)
20. Nicolo Zaniolo (AS Roma/Italy)

Joao Felix, Kai Havertz and Jadon Sancho appear to be the favourites to pick up the award while Nicolo Zaniolo appears to have an outside chance at the award. Some names like Ansu Fati appear to have been shortlisted a little too soon for the award considering the lack of a proper campaign under his belt.

Manchester United is the club with the most Golden Boy award winners (3). Wayne Rooney, Anderson and Anthony Martial have picked up the award whilst wearing the United Jersey. France leads the way among the countries with 3 winners of their own; Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Kylian Mbappe.

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