Top 10 contenders for the 2016 Golden Boy award
Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Aguero, Mario Gotze, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial - in addition to being the creme de la creme of world football, these superstars are also footballers who made it big at a very young age, thus winning the “Golden Boy” Award.
Instituted by Tuttosport, the award sees the most reputed journalists across Europe voting for their favourite Under-21 talent in the beautiful game.
With this year’s 40-man shortlist out, the contenders for the title are anybody’s guess. However, there are some youngsters whose career graphs are already significantly higher than that of the other rising stars in this list.
The top 10 contenders for the prize are a notch or two above, at least for the time being. Let’s see who they are!
#10 Gabriel “Gabigol” Barbosa (20) – Inter Milan
Dubbed frequently as the “Next Neymar” by the Brazilian media, the former Santos forward Gabigol has instead followed the paths of two great Brazilian forwards of yesteryears – Ronaldo and Adriano, by playing for the blue half of Milan.
The 20-year old is the emerging face of the Nerazzurri, along with their talismanic captain, Mauro Icardi. Shooting to the limelight during this year’s Copa America Centenario, the starlet from Sao Paulo will be hoping to take Europe by storm.
Playing against the cerebral and highly tactical defensive lines of Serie A will further develop the finishing instincts of a forward who has already displayed his thoroughbred pedigree.
The rise of the Olympic gold medallist has been vindicated by his increasing presence at the helm of the Brazil attack. Along with the other great young talent from the nation, Gabriel Jesus, Gabigol is definitely one of the names to watch out for as the season progresses.