Eight Premier League stars named on Golden Boy 2026 shortlist

By Ihuoma Inyama

Eight Premier League players have been named among the 25 finalists for the 2026 Golden Boy award, including Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly, Chelsea’s Estêvão and Manchester City’s Ayyoub Bouaddi.

The award, organised by Italian publication Tuttosport, recognises the best under-21 player in Europe. Players must have been born on or after January 1, 2006, and play for a club in one of UEFA’s top 25 leagues.

Lewis-Skelly earns a place on the shortlist for the second consecutive year after helping Arsenal win the Premier League title and reach the Champions League final.

Manchester City summer signing Bouaddi also made the cut following his breakthrough World Cup campaign with Morocco.

Brighton and Bournemouth each have two players on the list. Brighton are represented by Luka Vušković and Charalampos Kostoulas, while Bournemouth have Eli Junior Kroupi and Rayan.

Chelsea complete the Premier League contingent with Estêvão and Jorrel Hato.

Barcelona have the most nominees of any club, with Pau Cubarsí, Marc Bernal and Xavi Espart all shortlisted.

Cubarsí, who was named the best young player at the 2026 World Cup, is also among the Ballon d’Or nominees.

His Barcelona team-mate Lamine Yamal, who won the Golden Boy award in 2024, is not eligible to win it again despite meeting the age requirement.

Real Madrid’s Yan Diomande and Endrick, Bayern Munich’s Lennart Karl and Paris Saint-Germain’s Warren Zaïre-Emery are among the other notable names on the list.

Paris Saint-Germain forward Désiré Doué won the award in 2025.

Golden Boy 2026: Full 25-man shortlist
• Kerim Alajbegović — Juventus
• Marc Bernal — Barcelona
• Ayyoub Bouaddi — Manchester City
• Pau Cubarsí — Barcelona
• Yan Diomande — Real Madrid
• Saïd El Mala — Köln
• Endrick — Real Madrid
• Xavi Espart — Barcelona
• Estêvão — Chelsea
• Victor Froholdt — Porto
• Joane Gadou — Borussia Dortmund
• Jorrel Hato — Chelsea
• Finn Jeltsch — Stuttgart
• Konstantinos Karetsas — Borussia Dortmund
• Lennart Karl — Bayern Munich
• Charalampos Kostoulas — Brighton
• Eli Junior Kroupi — Bournemouth
• Myles Lewis-Skelly — Arsenal
• Jon Martín — Real Sociedad
• Franco Mastantuono — Fiorentina (on loan from Real Madrid)
• Rodrigo Mora — Roma
• Gianluca Prestianni — Benfica
• Rayan — Bournemouth
• Luka Vušković — Brighton
• Warren Zaïre-Emery — Paris Saint-Germai