The Golden Boy is an award handed out to the best under 21 player in European football annually. The likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, and Kylian Mbappe are just three examples of previous winners, who have gone on to have huge success in the game. The most recent winner - Matthijs De Ligt - was the first defender to win the award and adds to a list of incredibly gifted players to have been recognised in previous years.
Tuttosport, the Italian publication who established the award back in 2003, have just released the long list of 100 nominees for the 2019 title, which will be whittled down after a fan vote.
In the list, Nigerian's current wonderkid Samuel Chukwueze who plays for La Liga outfits Villarreal CF was missing but Super Eagles fullback Udo Utin was shortlisted.
The exclusion of Chukwueze come as a surprise to many football fans after he had a wonderful breakthrough season with Villarreal first team, scoring 8 goals and assisting 3 others in 36 games. Another Nigerian young talent missing in the list is Victor Osimhen. The Super Eagles striker scored 19 goals in 34 appearances for his Belgian club Charleroi.
Both Chukwueze and Osimhen were selected by Gernot Rohr for the upcoming Africa cup of nations which will be held in Egypt.
Golden Boy 2019 candidates
Yacine Adli (Bordeaux), Domenico Alberico (Hoffenheim), Ethan Ampadu (Chelsea), Angel Gomes (Manchester United), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Keanan Bennetts (Borussia Monchengladbach), Indy Boonen (Oostende), Brahim Diaz (Real Madrid), Rhian Brewster (Liverpool), Lazar Carevic (Barcelona), Davide Castelli (Villarreal), Tahith Chong (Manchester United), David Colina (Monaco), Michael Cuisance (Borussia Monchengladbach), Hannes Delcroix (Anderlecht), Matthijs De Ligt (Ajax), Moussa Diaby (Bayer Leverkusen), Krepin Ditta (Club Brugge), Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Diogo Queiros (Porto), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan), Jurgen Ekkelenkamp (Ajax), Florentino Luis (Benfica), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Fran Beltran (Celta Vigo), Benjamin Garre (Manchester City), Gedson Fernandes (Benfica), Lutsharel Geertruida (Feyenoord), Willem Geubbels (Monaco), Morgan Gibbs-White (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Charlie Gilmour (Arsenal), Lorenzo Gonzalez (Manchester City), Amine Gouiri (Olympique Lyonnais), Kamil Grabara (Liverpool), Addji Guehi (Chelsea), Matteo Guendouzi (Arsenal), Erling Haland (Red Bull Salzburg), Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen), Cucho Hernandez (Watford), Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea), Alexander Isak (Real Sociedad), Victor Jensen (Ajax), Joao Felix (Benfica), Jota (Benfica), Dejan Joveljic (Eintracht Frankfurt), Boubacar Kamara (Olympique Marseille), Moise Kean (Juventus), Justin Kluivert (Roma), Sekou Koita (Wolfsberger), Alban Lafont (Fiorentina), Diego Lainez (Real Betis), Leandro Fernandes (Juventus), Lee Kang-in (Valencia), Andrey Lunin (Real Madrid), Arne Maier (Hertha Berlin), Manu Morlanes (Villarreal), Jordi Mboula (Monaco), Mesaque Dji (West Ham United), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Nehuen Perez (Atletico Madrid), Reiss Nelson (Arsenal), Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal), Stanley Nsoki (Paris Saint-Germain), Tashan Oakley-Boothe (Tottenham Hotspur), Abdulkadir Omur (Trabzonspor), Paulinho (Bayer Leverkusen), Strahinja Pavlovic (Partizan Belgrade), Pietro Pellegri (Monaco), Luca Pellegrini (Roma), Andrea Pinamonti (Inter), Alessandro Plizzari (Milan), Domingos Quina (Watford), Rafael Leao (Lille), Riqui Puig (Barcelona), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Maximiliano Romero (PSV), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Malang Sarr (Nice), Gianluca Scamacca (Sassuolo), Nicolas Schiappacasse (Parma), Luis Sinisterra (Feyenoord), Oliver Skipp (Tottenham Hotspur), Boubakary Soumare (Lille), Antonios Stergiakis (Slavia Sofia), Dujon Sterling (Chelsea), Mile Svilar (Benfica), Moussa Sylla (Monaco), Sandro Tonali (Brescia, Hamed Traore (Empoli), Udo Utin (Maccabi Haifa), Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid), Dusan Vlahovic (Fiorentina), Sebastian Walukiewicz (Cagliari), Timothy Weah (Paris Saint-Germain), Joe Willock (Arsenal), Ben Woodburn (Liverpool), Dan-Axel Zagadou (Borussia Dortmund), Nicolo Zaniolo (Roma), Ze Gomes (Benfica).

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