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Gabriel Jesus is among the front-runners for the prestigious Golden Boy award, annually given to the most impressive young footballer on the planet.

The Manchester City striker faces stiff competition, not least from Manchester United star Marcus Rashford, with Bayern Munich's Renato Sanches and Monaco striker Kylian Mbappe among the candidates.

Jesus has to be among the front-runners for the award, which is voted on by top newspapers throughout Europe.

Based on exploits for the calendar year, the award has previously been won by Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli and Raheem Sterling, not to mention Lionel Messi and Mario Gotze.

And even before his £27million move to City and spectacular start to his career at the Etihad Stadium, Jesus had an eventful 2016.

He top-scored for Palmeiras as they won the Brazilian title, then won an Olympic gold medal with his country's under-23 team, before getting a call into the full international team – and scoring five times in his first six games for them.

After replacing Aguero in the City team, he scored three goals in five games before breaking his metatarsal at Bournemouth – and is due back in action before the end of the season.

The Golden Boy award was established in 2003, with Ajax midfielder Rafael van de Vaart winning the first trophy, while last year it went to Bayern's Portuguese star Sanches.

Aguero won it in 2007 when he was a rising star at Atletico Madrid, while Balotelli took it in 2010 when he moved from Inter to City, and Sterling in 2014, while he was with Liverpool.

The list of candidates also includes City youngsters Tosin Adarabioyo, Enes Unal and Pablo Maffeo.