Italian newspaper Tuttosport have been running their Golden Boy award for 14 years now, and it’s grown in coverage probably every year.
It’s now the time of year that they select a shortlist (or rather long-list) of 40 players who will then be judged by a panel of journalists from around Europe. Tuttosport are understandably proud of how big the award has become and on Thursday dub it the Ballon d’Or for U21 players.
Tottenham have one footballer on the list and that’s Dele Alli, with the 20 year old taking the number one spot in Tuttosport’s list. That’s purely for alphabetical reasons and Alli is up against stiff competition to win the award.
Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman and his new teammate Renato Sanches, who was at Benfica last season, are just two of the players who will provide competition to Alli.
Previous winners of the award include Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney and former Tottenham player Rafael Van der Vaart.
