Lewis-Skelly, Estevao and Bouaddi Named Among 2026 Golden Boy Finalists

Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly, Chelsea's Estêvão and Manchester City's Ayyoub Bouaddi are among the Premier League players shortlisted for the 2026 Golden Boy award.

The Golden Boy is given out by the Italian paper Tuttosport and goes to the best men's player under 21 in Europe. This year's list has 25 finalists, and eight of them play in the Premier League.

Other big names on the list include Real Madrid's new summer signing Yan Diomande, Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl and Paris Saint-Germain's Warren Zaïre-Emery. Barcelona's Pau Cubarsí is also in the running. He was named best young player at the 2026 World Cup and won the tournament with Spain.

Barcelona's Lamine Yamal is one of the favourites for this year's Ballon d'Or, but he is not on the list. He already won the Golden Boy in 2024, so he cannot win it again.

In the Premier League group, Brighton and Bournemouth each have two nominees. Luka Vušković and Charalampos Kostoulas are the Brighton pair, while Eli Junior Kroupi and Rayan fly the flag for Bournemouth. Chelsea also have two names in Estêvão and Jorrel Hato. Man City have one in Bouaddi, the Morocco midfielder who joined the club in the summer.

There is no place for anyone from Liverpool, Manchester United or Tottenham.

The full list of finalists is:

Kerim Alajbegović (Juventus), Ayyoub Bouaddi (Manchester City), Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona), Yan Diomande (Real Madrid), Endrick (Real Madrid), Xavi Espart (Barcelona), Estêvão (Chelsea), Victor Froholdt (Porto), Joane Gadou (Borussia Dortmund), Jorrel Hato (Chelsea), Finn Jeltsch (Stuttgart), Lennart Karl (Bayern Munich), Konstantinos Karetsas (Borussia Dortmund), Charalampos Kostoulas (Brighton), Eli Junior Kroupi (Bournemouth), Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal), Said El Mala (Köln), Jon Martín (Real Sociedad), Franco Mastantuono (Real Madrid, on loan at Fiorentina), Rodrigo Mora (Roma), Gianluca Prestianni (Benfica), Rayan (Bournemouth) and Luka Vušković (Brighton).