He seemed destined for greatness, but has never quite fulfilled his potential at Old Trafford. Six months later, he was named the 2019 Golden Boy. Rafael van der Vaart burst onto the scene 17 years ago, Wayne Rooney's impressive form in 03/04 earned him a move to Man Utd, Lionel Messi has gone on to win six Ballon d'Or titles, Cesc Fabregas went on to become one of the world's best midfielders, Sergio Aguero was named the 2007 Golden Boy thanks to his performances with Atletico Madrid, Anderson was something of a cult hero at Man Utd, Alexandre Pato impressed during his younger years, Mario Balotelli moved to Man City after his success with Inter Milan, Mario Gotze was named the 2011 Golden Boy, (Image: Alexander Hassenstein/Bundesliga Collection via Getty Images), Isco has had a wonderful career since being named Golden Boy while at Malaga, Paul Pogba impressed on his debut season with Juventus, Raheem Sterling has gone on to be a regular for Man City and England, Martial has won one FA Cup, one League Cup, and one Europa League as well as his Golden Boy gong, Renato Sanches won the Euros and Golden Boy in the same year, Kylian Mbappe's trophy cabinet is already packed, Matthijs de Ligt became Ajax captain at the age of 19, Joao Felix earned himself a move from Benfica to Atletico and the Golden Boy award, Subscribe to Daily Star and Daily Star On Sunday newspapers, Daily Star Football email - 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It contains the most talented football players under 21 years. He scored 17 goals after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer moved him into a centre-forward position. He has since gone on to break the club’s scoring record with 255 goals in all competitions. He was a part of all four Champions League victories in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Yet some have failed to live up to their early potential and have slowly fallen off the radar of many supporters. Rooney struck four goals, one fewer than Golden Boot winner Milan Baros, and was named to the Team of the Tournament. He remained with Atleti for another three years, scoring 21, 19 and 27 goals respectively. Returning to Brazil with Corinthians in 2013, Pato spent three years in his native country, scoring 33 goals in that time. The Frenchman won the award in 2017, six months after he moved to Paris Saint-Germain from Monaco, becoming the most expensive teenager in history. The striker remained at United for the majority of his career, ending his time at Old Trafford with a club-record 253 goals in 559 games. After making 38 appearances in the 2007/08 season for Manchester United, Anderson was named the 2008 Golden Boy. 734 comments Messi has been awarded the Ballon d’Or six times, more than any other player in history. So far this term, the Portuguese international has impressed, with seven goals and two assists in 10 games in all competitions. Yet among the favourites are Erling Haaland, who has scored 27 goals in 29 games for Borussia Dortmund in 2020, and Alphonso Davies, who played a key role in Bayern Munich’s treble-winning season and established himself as one of the premier left-backs in world football. Top 50 football players under the age of 21 whose form is improving, European Golden Shoe 2020/21: Messi on the leaderboard but Lewandowski scores again, European Assists King 2020/21: Grealish on par with De Bruyne, Silva fit, but rested? The first-ever winner of the Golden Boy award, … One of the prerequisites is that the youngster must be playing in the top tier leagues of … However, that was the only season in which he played more than 19 Premier League games. The Golden Boy award was created by Italian newspaper Tuttosport in 2003 to recognise the best young player in Europe. After scoring nine goals in the 2003/04 season as an 18-year-old, Rooney signed with Manchester United in the 2004 summer transfer window. He was named the club’s Young Player of the Season for two years in a row and earned the Golden Boy award in between them. Felix, however, underwhelmed in his first season at Wanda Metropolitano, scoring only nine goals in 36 appearances in all competitions. But Fabregas was never a regular starter and signed with Chelsea in 2014. Since signing with Madrid, Isco has never held down a regular starting role. The news was first reported by outlets in his home country of Argentina, but quickly spread worldwide as it was learned the world’s game had lost its “Golden Boy.” In 741 games for Barcelona, he has scored 640 goals. The Black Boy in Newtown, Powys, dates back to the 17th century and was named after chimney sweeps who would emerge from local properties covered in soot. Perhaps one of the more heartbreaking Golden Boy stories, Gotze was scintillating for Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund in the early 2010s. He won four league titles, a Champions League, and two League Cups while with United, but departed in 2015 and joined Brazilian side Internacional. by PlanetFootball Plays Quiz not verified by Sporcle . At just 19 years old, he was already Ajax captain, and became the first teenager to lead a team in the knockout stage of the Champions League against Real Madrid in February 2019. In 2016, Pogba moved back to Manchester United in what was the most-expensive transfer of all time (£89.3 million). In 2016, Balotelli moved to Nice and scored 43 goals across his first two seasons with the French side. In 1956 his efforts not only at quarterback but on defense and special teams helped him win the Heisman Trophy despite the Irish going just 2-8 on the year. The fourth most expensive player in the history of football, he was only 20 years old when he walked through the door, with plenty more heights to scale. Former Asante Kotoko coach Abdul "Golden Boy" Razak says he is available for the Hearts of Oak coaching job. The 30-year-old claims to have the 'biggest butt on OnlyFans', The Queen has been discussing Prince Harry and Meghan quitting royals 'for months', Her Majesty, 94, reportedly called the Duke of Sussex from Windsor Castle at his and wife Meghan Markle's new £11m California mansion last month ahead of Friday's announcement. Nominees must be under … Fabregas won the Golden Boy award in 2006 after breaking into Arsenal’s central midfield and leading them to the Champions League final, where they lost to Barcelona. Van der Vaart then returned to Hamburg in 2012 before ending his career in Denmark, retiring in November 2018. Sports Quiz / Every winner of the Golden Boy award Random Sports Quiz Can you name every winner of the Golden Boy award? These are the 50 best young soccer players on the planet right now: Netherlands international Memphis Depay continues to be linked with a summer transfer to Barcelona - and he is catching the eye with Lyon. In two seasons in the Far East, he scored 30 goals in 37 games. In January 2020, he signed with Championship side Derby County where he remains. He then returned to Barcelona, his boyhood club, in 2011 and won La Liga two years later. Isco remains with Madrid but has started just three of Madrid’s eight La Liga games this season. The next season, he increased those numbers to 18 goals and 11 assists, leading City to the title, before then emulating that with 17 goals and nine assists in another title-winning season. Our. You can find out more information on our email newsletter on this link here. In 2016/17, Guardiola’s first year at the Etihad, Sterling provided seven goals and eight assists. He is 21 years old. Thank you for using Footballcritic. Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland has just beaten Alphonso Davies to the Golden Boy award, despite the latter winning the Champions League and the treble this season. Spanish creator Isco was named the 2012 Golden Boy after shining for Malaga in La Liga and Spain at the Under-20 World Cup in 2011. Pato remained with AC Milan until 2013 but only once did he score more than five goals in a season after 2010. He has also won two La Liga titles and one Spanish cup. The Brazilian midfielder struggled with injuries throughout his time at Old Trafford and infrequently showed glimpses of his talent. Mbappe already has four league titles to his name, alongside two Coupe de Frances, and a fourth place in the Ballon d’Or. Maradona: The Golden Boy of Football - The Media Line Diego Maradona, then-coach of the UAE's Al-Wasl Football Club, celebrates during the team's GCC Champions League semifinal match against Al Khor on May 31, 2012. There he formed a brilliant partnership with Peter Crouch and in his two full campaigns at White Hart Lane, he scored 24 goals and provided 15 assists. However, across three years with Bayern, Gotze made only 114 appearances in all competitions due to a metabolic disorder called myopathy, though this was not discovered until 2017. The award has been handed out every year since 2003 and many of the recipients have become global stars and won an array of trophies. During his time at Old Trafford, Martial has won one FA Cup, one League Cup, and one Europa League. The Italian international spent two-and-a-half seasons in Manchester before returning to the San Siro, but this time with AC Milan, not Inter. You can attend the event "Mystery Agent" to obtain them. Across his club career, the man who was dubbed “The German Messi” won five German league titles, four German Cups, and was named the Bundesliga Young Player of the Season in 2010/11. With Barcelona, Messi has won 10 La Liga titles, six Spanish Cups, and four Champions Leagues. The man who many consider to be the greatest player of the modern era, Messi has certainly lived up to the expectations of being a Golden Boy winner. But, for the most part, he was a squad player for Sir Alex Ferguson despite spending eight seasons at Old Trafford. explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. 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He was 22 at the time but never reached such heights again. Aguero signed with City in 2011 and scored 23 goals in his first season in Manchester. Something went wrong, please try again later. The Argentine was named the 2007 Golden Boy thanks to his performances with Atletico Madrid, for whom he struck 19 La Liga goals in 2007/08 aged just 19. At the end of the 2018/19 season, de Ligt was named the Dutch Footballer of the Year, included in the Eredivisie Team of the Year for the second successive season, winning his first league title, and was named in the UEFA Team of the Year for 2019. He also has 140 international caps for Argentina, scoring 71 times. … The list features five Englishmen: Mason Greenwood, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Jadon Sancho. Signed from Rennes in the summer, Raphinha continues to turn in exciting performances for Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds Utd. Internationally, Pogba’s greatest achievement came in 2018 when he lifted the World Cup with France, forming a brilliant midfield partnership with N’Golo Kante. He made 35 appearances in 2012/13, his first season in Juventus, and was subsequently named the Golden Boy. By 2011, he was plying his trade in the Premier League, joining up with former manager Roberto Mancini, who heralded him as “one of the best players of his age in Europe.”. He was subsequently awarded the Golden Boy award at the end of the year. By the time he hung up his boots, he won two Eredivisie titles, one Danish league title and made more than 100 appearances for the Netherlands. After scoring 20 goals in all competitions in the 2018/19 season, Felix signed with Atletico Madrid for £113 million, the second-highest fee paid for a teenager in history. He then spent one season with Liverpool in 2014/15, scoring just four goals, before being loaned back to Milan. Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix was the winner of the award in 2019. Well then sign up for the brilliant new Daily Star Sport email newsletter! He has played six times in all competitions this season. Want to be on the ball with all of the latest football news? Internationally, he won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics with Argentina’s Under-23s team, clinched two Under-20 World Cups in 2005 and 2007, and has made 97 appearances for the senior side, scoring 41 goals. He made 88 appearances in two years for the club, but in 2017 joined Coritiba before returning to Europe with Turkish side Adana Demirspor. If you want more information on how our algorithm is calculated, please click here. And they are all very good training partners that can provide a maximum of 268 TP pointto yourstar players (For GK golden boy… However, in his fifth campaign at United, Martial began to perform as expected. The Huskers, coming off a national championship, didn’t tolerate golden boys. In 2019/20, he was named Manchester United’s Player of the Season. At Stamford Bridge, he won two Premier League titles, including an 18-assist season in 2014/15 under Jose Mourinho, before leaving for Monaco in 2018. He also won the Europa League with Atletico in 2009/10. Only once has he made more than 25 league starts but despite this, he has 50 goals and 47 assists in all competitions. So here, Daily Star Sport details the varied careers of every former Golden Boy winner. He had a great career at Notre Dame, where he won the Heisman Trophy (the only player ever to win it on a team with a losing record). The nominations for the European Golden Boy have been revealed, with representatives from Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham included in the list of 80 players. He was also named the best player in the world four years in a row from 2009 to 2012. It is given to the best young player under the age of 21 across the European leagues. He was 20 when he received the accolade but truly arrived on the world stage when he moved from Hamburg to Real Madrid in 2008. We also have a list with the Top 50 football players under the age of 21 whose form is improving right now. Internationally, Martial has just 23 caps. They are the former Golden Boy Award nominees such as Wayne Rooney,Tony Kroosand Kylian Mbappe. He missed the 2018 World Cup triumph, however. The German missed the Everton win due to a groin strain but has returned to full training ahead of the game against the Gunners. Tuchel was reportedly brought in to replace Lampard at Chelsea to get the best out of Werner and Havertz, but it's Kovacic who has transformed the most.