Last December, Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham claimed the Tuttosport’s prestigious Golden Boy award for the best player under the age of 21 across Europe’s big leagues.
Bellingham followed in the footsteps of the likes of Gavi, Pedri and Erling Haaland, while further back we saw era-defining greats such as Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero pick up the Golden Boy award when they were first breaking through.
But who will win it this year? There is an official up-to-date ranking, but we’ve put together our own power ranking featuring the 10 players we envisage most likely to win the Golden Boy award later this year, in order of least to most likely.
10. Endrick (=)
It feels like a bold shout to have generational talent Endrick as low as tenth place. The Brazilian is doing incredible things at boyhood club Palmeiras and is regarded by many as the most talented player under the age of 20 in world football.
The hype machine went into overdrive when he scored his first goals for Brazil against England and Spain earlier in the year. He turns 18 next week and already looks capable of making an instant impact at Real Madrid.
Here’s the but: the Golden Boy Award is for players in European football. Endrick won’t make his competitive debut for Los Blancos until August at the earliest, meaning he’ll have missed a good chunk of the eligibility period.
And given Madrid’s stacked attack, with Kylian Mbappe also set to arrive this summer, we wouldn’t be surprised if Endrick is used sparingly at first – a patient approach to get him integrated into life on a new continent.
He also endured a fairly underwhelming Copa America, completing just one pass (from kick-off) when drafted in for the suspended Vinicius Junior in Brazil’s quarter-final elimination to Uruguay.
Still, there’s no questioning his potential. He’ll surely challenge for the award in 2025 or 2026.
9. Savio (NEW)
The Brazilian winger, 20, was exceptional as Girona punched above their weight to finish in La Liga’s top four and qualify for the Champions League.
He wasn’t quite as impressive at the Copa America, but he did score in Brazil’s only win – 4-1 against Paraguay – and has the potential to make himself a household name when he joins up with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City this summer.
8. Leny Yoro (=)
The 18-year-old center-back was solid as a rock for Lille last season.
Everything looks set for Yoro to move to a European giant for a big-money fee in the coming weeks, by which point there’ll be no ignoring him.
Real Madrid are reportedly leading the race to sign the teenager, but Barcelona, Manchester United and Liverpool are also said to be in the mix. Watch this space.
7. Pau Cubarsi (=)
This list shows that ludicrously young attackers and wingers aren’t all that rare.
But Cubarsi is a center-back, only turned 17 back in January, and looked completely at ease in Barcelona’s Champions League knockout clashes against Napoli and PSG.
He was unlucky to make the final cut for Spain’s Euro 2024-winning squad, but he has every chance to start at the heart of their backline come the next World Cup.
La Masia keeps on producing.
6. Joao Neves (↓3)
The Portuguese teenager has long been talked up as Benfica’s next money-spinning sale. He undoubtedly looks immensely talented, but we find his current spot at #2 in the official Football Benchmark index a little perplexing, considering how the year has gone for him.
Playing his football outside one of Europe’s top five leagues for a Benfica side that went out of the Champions League at the group stage and were pipped to the Primeira Liga title by Sporting, Neves arguably goes under the radar a little. But those who regularly watch the midfielder swear he’s the real deal.
The academy graduate stepped up into Enzo Fernandez’s place following the World Cup winner’s club-record sale to Chelsea.
But he only made one start for Portugal at Euro 2024, the dead rubber defeat to Georgia, and failed to make it off the bench in the knockout stages.
Talk of moving to Barcelona to fill their Sergio Busquets-shaped hole in midfield feels a tad premature. Another season of development at Benfica looks the best thing for him.
5. Warren Zaire-Emery (↓1)
PSG have a nasty habit of letting some of their best graduates from their world-class academy go and shine elsewhere – Paris-born-and-bred Kingsley Coman even scored the winning goal in a Champions League final.
But Zaire-Emery is one prospect that’s too good to let leave, a foundational keystone of their post-Mbappe future. He’s just signed a new deal that runs until 2029.
“If [making the Champions League final] comes to pass, it’ll be extremely difficult to look beyond the midfielder,” he wrote the last time we updated this. Unfortunately for Zaire-Emery’s Golden Boy award prospects, PSG suffered a shock defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals.
Having been talked up as one of the potential breakout stars of Euro 2024, he wasn’t selected to play a single minute by Didier Deschamps. Ouch.
That doesn’t change the fact he’s an immense talent, but it’s difficult to see him winning it now.
4. Arda Guler (↑4)
“I will say three names,” Bellingham responded when asked for his picks on who might succeed him in picking up the Golden Boy award.
“First of all, Arda Guler is a phenomenon, we see him training and we are delighted with him. Then my former teammate Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, from Borussia Dortmund. And lastly, my brother Jobe, a thoroughbred striker like our father.”
Sorry, Jude. Unless your brother moves from Sunderland to a major European club in the summer and instantly tears it up, we can’t see it. And Bynoe-Gittens just misses out on cracking our top 10, talented as he is.
Turkish wonderkid Guler does make the cut, though.
He only played a peripheral role in his debut season at Real Madrid but offered a reminder of his potential with a starring role in Turkey’s run to the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.
3. Kobbie Mainoo(=)
The fact that Mainoo has looked so mature and so assured in his breakthrough season, for an otherwise a largely chaotic, messy Manchester United, is a testament to his ability. He capped off the season in style with an instantly iconic goal at Wembley in the Manchester derby cup final.
Then he broke into Gareth Southgate’s first-choice midfield at Euro 2024. It feels a bit churlish to point out that he didn’t actually “solve” England’s midfield, often brought off when the the Three Lions were losing, but he still showed real promise. To be entrusted to start major tournament knockout games as a teenager underlines how bright Mainoo’s future is.
2. Alejandro Garnacho (=)
Scoring alongside fellow teenager Mainoo as the Red Devils upset the odds to defeat Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering juggernaut in the FA Cup final has done Garnacho’s case no harm at all, much as it was an easy finish after being gifted an open goal after a defensive mix-up.
Lionel Scaloni didn’t quite trust him to feature in any game of consequence in Argentina’s Copa America victory, but he still got his hands on the trophy and is a big part of their future.
Manchester United’s Argentinian wing wizard probably won’t get his hands on the Golden Boy award, but he might well receive the Puskas Award. Quite the year for the 20-year-old.
1. Lamine Yamal (=)
“He’s just a monstrous talent,” says Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez.
“And he’s only 16. Very few shine at such an age. How he works, how he fights, how he contributes to the team. He has no limit.
“I’ve devised a specific plan with him, and it matters. We have something special ahead. I emphasize how he competes. He doesn’t tire. He covers a lot of kilometers with high intensity. He eludes opponents. I really enjoy watching him play.”
Yamal ended the season trophyless with his boyhood club but he proved Xavi was speaking sense with a series of unbelievable performances for Spain at Euro 2024. He turned 17 the day before the final, in which he made a telling contribution with his chart-topping fourth assist of the tournament.
He’s got this in the bag already.
