Top 5 favourites for the 2019 Golden Boy award
The 40 man shortlist for the Golden Boy Award has been halved to 20. Now, some of Europe's finest journalists will decide who among these talented youngsters deserves to be crowned on December 16, 2019.
On the list are some very impressive names, including Matthijs De Ligt, who won the title last year, several months before his mega-money move to Juventus. However, he has some stiff competition this year in the form of footballing prodigies like Joao Felix, Ansu Fati, and Phil Foden who also feature on this list of nominees.
The award is given to the best under 21 player in Europe's top tier leagues. Over the years, it has been given to players who have gone on to achieve great things for club and country. The award was founded by Italian newspaper Tuttosport in 2003 with the first recipient being Rafael van der Vaart.
Other great players who have received this award are; Wayne Rooney (2004), Lionel Messi (2005), Sergio Aguero (2007) and Raheem Sterling (2014).
Here is this year's 20 man shortlist:
Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus), Lee Kang-in (Valencia), Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich), Moise Kean (Everton), Andriy Lunin (Valladolid), Ansu Fati (Barcelona), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Juventus), Donyell Malen (PSV Eindhoven), Philip Foden (Manchester City), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Matteo Guendouzi (Arsenal), Erling Braut Halaand (RB Salzburg), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen), Ferran Torres (Valencia), Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid), Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid), Nicolo Zaniolo (Roma), Dejan Joveljic (Eintracht Frankfurt).
In this article, we discuss the five favourites to bag this award.
Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund & England)
Jadon Sancho was a former Manchester City youth prospect who took the bold step of going abroad in search of game time. That move landed him at Borussia Dortmund and since then, he has taken the Bundesliga by storm thanks to a string of memorable performances.
In his first season in Germany, he had a modest 12 appearances for Dortmund but went on to establish himself as a first-team regular in the second season. In three seasons with Dortmund he has made 66 appearances, scored 18 goals and chalked up 30 assists. In 2019 he was named the Bundesliga Young Player of the Year.
Sancho's impressive performances for Dortmund earned him a call-up to the England senior side in 2018 and he has featured ten times under Gareth Southgate so far, bagging two goals and two assists.