Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly, Chelsea's Estêvão, and Manchester City's Ayyoub Bouaddi are among the Premier League stars nominated for the 2026 Golden Boy award. Other notable names on the list include Real Madrid's big-money summer signing Yan Diomande, Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl, Warren Zaïre-Emery of Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona star Pau Cubarsí -- who was named the best young player at the 2026 World Cup and won the tournament with Spain. The Golden Boy is presented by the Italian publication Tuttosport and is given to the best under-21 men's player in Europe.
Lamine Yamal -- one of the favourites for this year's Ballon d'Or -- is not nominated for the Golden Boy as he has already won the award before. He was crowned Golden Boy in 2024. Of the 25 finalists, eight of them hail from the Premier League.
Brighton and Bournemouth have two players each in contention for the award -- Eli Junior Kroupi and Rayan represent Bournemouth, while Luka Vušković and Charalampos Kostoulas make up the Brighton contingent. Two Chelsea players are up for the award in Estêvão and Jorrel Hato, while Man City have one player in contention in the form of Morocco midfielder Bouaddi -- who joined the club in the summer. No Liverpool, Manchester United or Tottenham players were shortlisted for the award.
Source: ESPN Soccer · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing