Tuttosport has announced the 100 nominees for the Golden Boy award 2022. The list includes four players who played at Ajax last season, including Devyne Rensch and Mohamed Daramy. Noni Madueke has been nominated on behalf of PSV, while there is no Feyenoord player on the list.
The Golden Boy award is an election in which sports journalists determine who is the most talented player on the European fields of the calendar year. The player must not be older than 21 years. Since the inception of the award, he has twice gone to a Dutchman. Rafael van der Vaart won it in 2003, while Matthijs de Ligt was Europe’s greatest talent in 2018.
De Ligt is to date the only defender to have won the award. Ten times it was a striker, eight times a midfielder and never a goalkeeper. Pedri won last year’s Golden Boy award and the years before that, big names have also won the prize. Erling Haaland, João Félix, De Ligt and Kylian Mbappé preceded the Spaniard.
The Eredivisie is often labeled as a breeding ground for talents. With seven nominees who played at the highest level in the Netherlands last season, the Netherlands is well represented. Daramy and Rensch were only allowed to appear at the kick-off in the first of Ajax, respectively, only zero and eight Eredivisie matches, but have been nominated. Their former teammates Brian Brobbey and Ryan Gravenberch are also on the list.
PSV player Noni Madueke has also been nominated, as are Tomás Suslov of FC Groningen and Filip Stevanovic of SC Heerenveen, who has been hired from Manchester City. In addition, there are two more Dutch people on the list who are active abroad. Ki-Jana Hoever (Wolverhampton Wanderers) and Jayden Braaf (coming season Borussia Dortmund) are also seen as big promises.
Some big contenders for the Golden Boy election are Jude Bellingham, Giovanni Reyna (both Borussia Dortmund), Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), Ansu Fati, Gavi, Pedri (all three FC Barcelona) and Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich).
Number of nominees per national competition
Germany/France 16
Italy 14
Spain 9
England 8
Netherlands/Portugal 7
Switzerland 6
Austria/Belgium 4
Some countries with 1
With seven nominees, the Netherlands is in joint sixth place, together with the Portuguese competition. Somewhat striking is the separation between the big five competitions. Germany, France and Italy have the most great talents compared to Spain and England. The national competitions of Switzerland, Austria and Belgium are also doing well.
However, the past shows that the Golden Boy most often walks around in the English and Spanish competition. He played seven times in England, five times in Spain, four times in Italy, three times in Germany, three times in France and twice in the Netherlands. The Golden Boy award will not be presented until November.
All nominees Golden Boy award 2022
Karim Adeyemi (Red Bull Salzburg, goes to Borussia Dortmund)
Felix Afena-Gyan (AS Roma)
Lucien Agoume (Stade Brest, loaned from Inter)
Anouar Ait El Hajj (Anderlecht)
Janis Antiste (Spezia)
Alejandro Balde (FC Barcelona)
Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
Stipe Biuk (HNK Hajduk Split)
Edoardo Bove (AS Roma)
Jayden Braaf (Manchester City, goes to Borussia Dortmund)
Brian Brobbey (Ajax, rented from RB Leipzig)
Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid)
Ryan Cherki (Lyon)
Mohamed-Ali Cho (Angers)
Francisco Conceicao (Porto)
Yan Couto (Sporting Braga, loaned from Manchester City)
Mohamed Daramy (Ajax)
Amar Dedic (Wolfsberger, loaned from Red Bull Salzburg)
Amad Diallo (Manchester United)
Diego Moreira (Benfica)
Jeremy Doku (Stade Rennes)
Radu Dragusin (Salernitana, loaned from Juventus)
Hugo Ekikike (Reims) Anthony Elanga (Manchester United)
Harvey Elliott (Liverpool)
Sebastiano Esposito (FC Basel, loaned from Inter)
Maxime Esteve (Montpellier)
Fabio Carvalho (Fulham, goes to Liverpool)
Fabio Silva (Wolverhampton)
Ansu Fati (FC Barcelona)
Gavi (FC Barcelona)
Joe Gelhardt (Leeds)
Wilfried Gnonto (FC Zurich)
Ryan Gravenberch (Ajax, goes to Bayern Munich)
Malo Gusto (Lyon)
Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig)
Henrique Araujo (Benfica)
Aaron Hickey (Bologna)
Piero Hincapie (Bayer Leverkusen)
Adam Hlozek (Sparta Prague, goes to Bayer Leverkusen)
Ki Jana Hoever (Wolverhampton)
Ilaix Moriba (RB Leipzig)
Joelson Fernandes (FC Basel, loaned to Sporting CP)
Isak Bergmann Johannesson (FC Copenhagen)
Nemanja Jovic (Partizan Belgrade)
Arnaud Kalimuendo (Lens, loaned from Paris Saint-Germain)
Jakub Kaminski (Lech Poznan, goes to Wolfsburg)
Ansgar Knauff (Borussia Dortmund, loaned to Eintracht Frankfurt next season)
Kacper Kozlowski (Union St. Gilloise, loaned from Brighton)
Isaac Lihadji (Lille)
Castello Lukeba (Lyon)
Noni Madueke (PSV Eindhoven)
Eliot Matazo (AS Monaco)
Nathanael Mbuku (Reims)
Fabio Miretti (Juventus)
Youssoufa Moukoko (Borussia Dortmund)
Yunus Musah (Valencia)
Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
Cher Ndour (Benfica)
Luca Netz (Borussia Monchengladbach)
Tanguy Nianzou (Bayern Munich)
Nico Gonzalez (FC Barcelona)
Nico Williams (Athletic Club)
Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint Germain)
Becir Omeragic (Zurich)
Simone Pafundi (Udinese)
Matias Palacios (FC Basel)
Paulo Bernardo (Benfica)
Pedro (FC Barcelona)
Yeremi Pino (Villarreal)
Devyne Rensch (Ajax)
Giovanni Reyna (Borussia Dortmund)
Fabian Rieder (Young Boys)
Rodrigo Ribeiro (Sporting CP)
Luka Romero (Lazio)
Georginio Rutter (Hoffenheim)
Lazar Samardzic (Udinese)
Cisse Sandra (Club Bruges)
Pape Matar Sarr (Metz, loaned from Tottenham)
Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach)
Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta)
Benjamin Sesko (Reb Bull Salzburg)
Brandon Soppy (Udinese)
Matias Soule (Juventus)
Filip Stevanovico (SC Heerenveen, loaned from Manchester City)
Luka Sucic (Red Bull Salzburg)
Kamaldeen Sulemana (Stade Rennes)
Tomas Suslov (Fc Groningen)
Jan Thielmann (Köln)
Tiago Tomas (VfB Stuttgart, loaned from Sporting CP)
Malik Tillman (Bayern Munich)
Destiny Udogie (Udinese, rented from Hellas Verona)
Maarten Vandevoordt (Genk)
Aster Vranckx (Wolfsburg)
Elye Wahi (Montpellier)
Illya Zabarnyi (Dynamo Kyiv)
Nicola Zalewski (AS Roma)
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