FC Porto lead the Golden Boy race with five nominees | OneFootball

Transfermarkt, a portal specializing in transfers, and the Italian newspaper Tuttosport released, this Thursday, a new monthly update of the list of candidates for the Golden Boy, an individual award given every year to the best under-21 player competing in European football.

With around four months to go before the winner is announced, FC Porto stands out as the club with the most representatives in the race. There are five in total, following the additions of Rodrigo Mora and Martim Fernandes, who join Victor Froholdt, Oskar Pietuszewski and William Gomes.

Borussia Dortmund comes right behind, with four nominees: Konstantinos Karetsas, Luca Reggiani, Joane Gadou and Samuele Inácio. Sporting, Benfica and Alverca each have one candidate: João Simões, Gianluca Prestianni and Bastien Meupiyou, respectively. The list also includes the Portuguese players Geovany Quenda, of Chelsea, and Diogo Sousa, of Strasbourg.

Froholdt is well placed, but someone else is the favorite

Pau Cubarsí currently leads the rankings and is the main candidate for the award for best young player in Europe. The Barcelona defender, recently crowned world champion with Spain, is followed by his club and national team teammate Lamine Yamal. The two have 81.2 and 80.6 points, respectively.

Yan Diomande completes the podium. The Ivory Coast international recently swapped Leipzig for Real Madrid, coached by José Mourinho, in a deal valued at around 125 million euros, with a further 15 million possible in bonuses. The ranking takes into account each player’s current sporting form.

Among the representatives linked to Portuguese football, Victor Froholdt sits in 6th place, followed by Gianluca Prestianni (26th), Rodrigo Mora (34th), Oskar Pietuszewski (44th), Geovany Quenda (48th), William Gomes (51st), Martim Fernandes (54th), João Simões (71st), Bastien Meupiyou (74th) and Diogo Sousa (76th).

Portugal has already had two Golden Boys

Since the creation of the Golden Boy in 2003, two Portuguese footballers have already won the trophy: Renato Sanches, in 2015, and João Félix, in 2019. In both cases, the award came in the year when the former moved to Bayern Munich for 35 million euros, and the latter signed for Atlético Madrid for 120 million euros.

Expectations surrounding the two young prospects were high, although, so far, neither has fully lived up to the potential attributed to him. Renato Sanches currently plays for Panathinaikos, while João Félix shares the dressing room with Cristiano Ronaldo and Samu Costa at Al Nassr.

In the last calendar year, the award was given to Désiré Doué, following the performances put in by the player for Paris Saint-Germain, where he played alongside fellow Portuguese players Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, João Neves and Gonçalo Ramos. The latter has since moved to AC Milan, where he reunited with Ruben Amorim and Rafael Leão, in a transfer worth approximately 65 million euros.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.