

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 >