Ranking the 5 greatest Golden Boy award winners
Spanish boy wonder Pedri was recently announced the winner of the 2021 Golden Boy award. The Barcelona star became the 19th winner of the award, which was first established by Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport in 2003.
Like the Ballon d'Or award, the Golden Boy is chosen by a voting panel that consists of journalists from numerous notable sports newspapers. Some of the most well-known participants are The Times (United Kingdom), France Football (who also award the Ballon d'Or), Bild (Germany) and Marca (Spain).
🏆 Pedri wins the Golden Boy award!
Congratulations, @Pedri!
#DreamTeen
Who is eligible for the Golden Boy award?
The two main guidelines for the award state that all nominees must be below the age of 21, and must play in a European nation's top tier. Neymar, who was arguably the best youngster in the world at the time, never won the award, as he arrived on European shores with Barcelona after turning 21.
Some prominent Golden Boy winners such as Anderson and Alexandre Pato have fizzled out despite promising signs early in their careers. Others, like Isco and Mario Gotze, have achieved considerable success, but have slowed down in recent years. Stars like Paul Pogba and Raheem Sterling have also won the prestigious award, but narrowly miss out on our list.
On that note, here are the five greatest players to have won the Golden Boy award:
#5 Kylian Mbappe (2017, Paris Saint-Germain/Monaco)
Then 18-year-old Kylian Mbappe was on loan at PSG when he was announced the winner of the 2017 Golden Boy award. He won the prestigious honour for his exploits with Monaco in the 2016-17 season.
Mbappe scored 26 goals and provided 14 assists as the Monegasques stunned PSG to win the Ligue 1 title. They embarked on a memorable run to the semi-finals of the Champions League too. Monaco beat Pep Guardiola's Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund along the way.
October 2017: Kylian Mbappé named European Golden Boy
July 2018: Kylian Mbappé named Best Young Player at the World Cup
July 2018: Kylian Mbappé nominated for The Best FIFA Men's Player 2018 https://t.co/eJI29Kcu2v
Mbappe won the Golden Boy title ahead of Ousmane Dembele (Borussia Dortmund), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan) and Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City), among others.
#4 Cesc Fabregas (2006, Arsenal)
At just 16, Cesc Fabregas took the brave step of leaving his boyhood club Barcelona's famous La Masia academy for English giants Arsenal. The move paid off, as he soon became The Gunners' youngest-ever first-team player,and the youngest goalscorer in the club's history.
In an impressive 2005-06 season, the then 19-year-old Fabregas made 50 appearances across competitions to win the 2006 Golden Boy award.
12 years ago today, the Arsenal beat Spurs 3-0 with @cesc4official scoring this incredible solo goal as we scored two goals in just 11 seconds 🔴
https://t.co/M1bQsi3jKl
He scored five goals and provided six assists while pulling the strings in midfield as Arsenal finished runners-up in the UEFA Champions League.