Man Utd and Chelsea youngsters join Jude Bellingham on Golden Boy shortlist
Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham, Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund and Chelsea defender Levi Colwill are among the 25 finalists for the 2023 Golden Boy award.
The award is given to the best player in Europe under the age of 21 over the last 12 months, with Barcelona starlet Gavi winning it last year. 100 players were shortlisted in the summer and that has now been whittled down to 25 ahead of a ceremony in December.
The award was established in 2003 by Italian newspaper Tuttosport and past winners include Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney. Bellingham, Hojlund and Colwill are part of the 20 finalists who are decided by the Golden Boy Index.
Gavi is ranked fourth by the index, devised by data & analytics platform Football Benchmark, but does not make the shortlist due to last years. There are also five wildcard picks nominated by Tuttosport journalists.
Real Madrid's Arda Guler, Genk's Bilal El Khannouss, Dinamo Zagreb's Martin Baturina, Benfica's Joao Neves and Barcelona's Lamine Yanal are this year's wildcard nominees.
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Of the 25 players, four of them ply their trade in the Premier League with Brighton striker Evan Ferguson and Bournemouth defender Milos Kerkez, who joined from AZ Alkmaar over the summer, also making the shortlist alongside Hojlund and Colwill.
La Liga and the Bundesliga have the most nominees with five, while Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Benfica have more than one finalist each. The awards ceremony will take place in Turin on December 4, but the winner will be announced in November.
Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund is one of four Premier League players on the shortlist (AP)Bellingham is the frontrunner for this year's award, having excelled at Borussia Dortmund before making a big-money move to Real Madrid in June. And the 20-year-old has gone from strength to strength at the Bernabeu.
He has scored ten goals in ten games across all competitions for Carlo Ancelotti's side, equalling a record held by Cristiano Ronaldo, but will face competition from the likes of Jamal Musiala, Antonio Silva, Xavi Simons and Alejandro Balde.
Golden Boy nominees:Jude Bellingham, Jamal Musiala, Xavi Simons, Antonio Silva, Alejandro Balde, Florian Wirtz, Benjamin Sesko, Giorgio Scalvini, Rasmus Hojlund, Levi Colwill, Johan Bakayoko, Milos Kerkez, Arthur Vermeeren, Evan Ferguson, Lucas Gourna-Douath, Warren Zaire-Emery, Ousmane Diomande, Arnau Martinez, Mathys Tel, Andy Diouf, Arda Guler, Bilal El Khannouss, Martin Baturina, Joao Neves and Lamine Yamal
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