BARCELONA, SPAIN – DECEMBER 15: Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona is honored with the Golden Boy 2024 award before the LaLiga match between FC Barcelona and CD Leganes at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on December 15, 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
Tuttosport has officially released the 25-player shortlist for the 2025 Golden Boy award, featuring two emerging talents from Italy and two players currently competing in Serie A.
The Golden Boy award is an annual recognition conferred by Italian media outlet Tuttosport to the finest young player in Europe under the age of 21.
Included in the 2025 shortlist is Juventus’s Kenan Yildiz, along with Italian prospects Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter) and Giovanni Leoni (Liverpool) as wildcard selections.
The shortlist includes 20 players selected through an algorithm developed by Tuttosport and Football Benchmark, in addition to five ‘wildcard’ selections. This year’s wildcards feature Esposito, Leoni, Jobe Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund, Rodrigo Mora from Porto, and Aleksandar Stankovic from Club Brugge.
Among those who made the shortlist through the Football Benchmark Index are PSG’s Desire Doue, Warren Zaire-Emery, and Senny Mayulu, as well as Real Madrid’s Arda Guler, Franco Mastantuono, and Dean Huijsen, Chelsea’s Estevao, and Barcelona’s Pau Cubarsi.
Since the Golden Boy award cannot be awarded to the same player more than once, last year’s recipient, Lamine Yamal, is ineligible to win the trophy again, despite still being under the age limit.
Notable past winners of the Golden Boy award include greats like Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, and Jude Bellingham.
2025 Golden Boy Shortlist
Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona)
Desire Doue (PSG)
Dean Huijsen (Real Madrid)
Kenan Yildiz (Juventus)
Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal)
Warren Zaire-Emery (PSG)
Arda Guler (Real Madrid)
Franco Mastantuono (Real Madrid)
Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
Jorrel Hato (Chelsea)
Geovany Quenda (Sporting CP)
Estevao (Chelsea)
Leny Yoro (Manchester United)
Senny Mayulu (PSG)
Nico O’Reilly (Manchester City)
Eliesse Ben Seghir (Bayer Leverkusen)
Victor Froholdt (Porto)
Lucas Bergvall (Tottenham)
Archie Gray (Tottenham)
Mamadou Sarr (Strasbourg)
Wildcard Selections
Jobe Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter)
Rodrigo Mora (Porto)
Giovanni Leoni (Liverpool)
Aleksandar Stankovic (Club Brugge)