Sunday, 28th October, 2012
Italian daily Tuttosport has announced the nominees for this year’s Golden Boy award.
The award, handed to the best player under the age of 21 from the last season, was won by Borussia Dortmund talent Mario Gotze in 2011, while 2010’s edition was collected by Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli.
This year, amongst those in the running to pick up the prestigious award are Arsenal’s young winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Liverpool duo Jonjo Shelvey and Raheem Sterling, Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane, AC Milan phenomenon Stephan El Shaarawy and Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba.
Also on the list of possible winners is Gotze again and, were the German to emerge triumphant, he would become the first player to win the Golden Boy award twice.
The first player to win the Golden Boy award was Rafael van der Vaart in 2003.
Lionel Messi picked up the accolade in 2005.
While his countryman Sergio Aguero collected it in 2007, while playing for Atletico Madrid.
Full List of 2012 Golden Boy Nominees
David Alaba – Bayern Munich
Jano Ananidze – Spartak Moscow
Christian Atsu – FC Porto
Jean-Christophe Bahebeck – Troyes
Joel Campbell – Real Betis
Luc Castaignos – FC Twente
Thibaut Courtois – Atletico Madrid
Philippe Coutinho – Inter
Gerard Deulofeu – Barcelona
Julian Draxler – Schalke
Dudu – Dynamo Kyiv
Stephan El Shaarawy – AC Milan
Christian Eriksen – Ajax
Mario Gotze – Borussia Dortmund
John Guidetti – Manchester City
Isco – Malaga
Jese – Real Madrid
Ola John – Benfica
Vaclav Kadlec – Sparta Prague
Koke – Atletico Madrid
Mateo Kovacic – Dinamo Zagreb
Milan Lalkovic – Vitoria Guimaraes
Erik Lamela – Roma
Jurgen Locadia – PSV Eindhoven
Samuele Longo – Espanyol
Lazar Markovic – Partizan Belgrade
Bruno Martins Indi – Feyenoord
Iker Muniain – Athletic Bilbao
Ahmed Musa – CSKA Moscow
Pedro Obiang – Sampdoria
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – Arsenal
Magomed Ozdoev – Lokomotiv Moscow
Paul Pogba – Juventus
Mohamed Salah – Basel
Jono Shelvey – Liverpool
Raheem Sterling – Liverpool
Raphael Varane – Real Madrid
Marco Verratti – Paris Saint-Germain
Granit Xhaka – Borussia Monchengladbach >
