{"id":6932,"date":"2026-10-05T20:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T20:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/footballars.xyz\/?p=6932"},"modified":"2026-10-05T20:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T20:12:17","slug":"golden-boy-2026-arsenals-myles-lewis-skelly-among-premier-league-stars-on-25-man-shortlist-for-europes-best-u21-player-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/footballars.xyz\/?p=6932","title":{"rendered":"Golden Boy 2026: Arsenal&#8217;s Myles Lewis-Skelly among Premier League stars on 25-man shortlist for Europe&#8217;s best U21 player | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-component-name=\"ui-article-body\" data-testid=\"article-body\" data-highlight-intro=\"true\">\n<p>Arsenal and England midfielder Myles Lewis-Skelly has been included in the 25-man shortlist for this year&#8217;s Golden Boy award.<\/p>\n<p>The 20-year-old is one of eight Premier League players in contention for the prize, presented by Italian publication Tuttosport, which is awarded to the best U21 men&#8217;s player in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Bournemouth and Brighton both have two players among the finalists, making up half of the Premier League contingent. <strong>Eli Junior Kroupi<\/strong> and <strong>Rayan<\/strong> are in contention for Bournemouth, while Brighton have <strong>Luka Vuskovic<\/strong> and <strong>Charalampos Kostoulas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea also have two shortlisted players in <strong>Estevao<\/strong> <strong>Willian<\/strong> and <strong>Jorrel Hato<\/strong>, while<strong> <\/strong>Manchester City&#8217;s summer-signing <strong>Ayyoub Bouaddi<\/strong> is the other Premier League star on the list.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-article-factbox\" data-testid=\"article-factbox\">\n<div class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text-wrapper\">\n<p><h4 class=\"sdc-article-factbox__title\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-title\">Last five Golden Boy winners<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<ul class=\"sdc-article-factbox__list\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list\">\n<li class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list-item\">2025: Desire Doue<\/li>\n<li class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list-item\">2024: Lamine Yamal<\/li>\n<li class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list-item\">2023: Jude Bellingham<\/li>\n<li class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list-item\">2022: Gavi<\/li>\n<li class=\"sdc-article-factbox__text\" data-testid=\"article-factbox-list-item\">2021: Pedri<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Lamine Yamal<\/strong>, the odds-on favourite for this year&#8217;s Ballon d&#8217;Or, is ruled out because he has already won the award.<\/p>\n<p>However, his Spain and Barcelona team-mate, <strong>Pau Cubarsi<\/strong>, named best young player at the summer&#8217;s World Cup, is among the strongest contenders.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona have three players shortlisted, more than any other club, with <strong>Marc Bernal <\/strong>and <strong>Xavi Espart <\/strong>also included.<\/p>\n<p>Real<strong> <\/strong>Madrid have two players in the mix with <strong>Yan<\/strong> <strong>Diomande<\/strong> and <strong>Endrick<\/strong>, while Paris Saint-Germain&#8217;s <strong>Warren Zaire-Emery<\/strong> and Bayern Munich&#8217;s <strong>Lennart Karl<\/strong> also make the cut.<\/p>\n<h3>Golden Boy 2026&#8230; meet the 25 finalists<\/h3>\n<p>Kerim Alajbegovi\u0107 (Juventus)<\/p>\n<p>Marc Bernal (Barcelona)<\/p>\n<p>Ayyoub Bouaddi (Manchester City)<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-article-image\" data-testid=\"article-image\">\n<figure class=\"sdc-article-image__figure\">\n<div class=\"sdc-article-image__wrapper\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\">\n          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/768x432\/skysports-erling-haaland-ayyoub-bouaddi_7348154.jpg?20260911152344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/384x216\/skysports-erling-haaland-ayyoub-bouaddi_7348154.jpg?20260911152344 380w, https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/768x432\/skysports-erling-haaland-ayyoub-bouaddi_7348154.jpg?20260911152344 760w, https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/1600x900\/skysports-erling-haaland-ayyoub-bouaddi_7348154.jpg?20260911152344 1024w, https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/2048x1152\/skysports-erling-haaland-ayyoub-bouaddi_7348154.jpg?20260911152344 2048w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1024px) 1024px, 100vw\" alt=\"Man City signed Ayyoub Bouaddi for a record fee for a teenager in the Premier League this summer\" data-testid=\"article-image-image\"\/>\n    <\/div><figcaption class=\"ui-media-caption\" data-testid=\"article-image-caption\">\n        <span class=\"u-hide-visually\">Image:<\/span><br \/>\n        <span class=\"ui-media-caption__caption-text\" data-testid=\"article-image-caption-text\">Man City signed Ayyoub Bouaddi for a record fee for a teenager in the Premier League this summer<br \/>\n        <\/span><br \/>\n      <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pau Cubars\u00ed (Barcelona)<\/p>\n<p>Yan Diomande (Real Madrid)<\/p>\n<p>Endrick (Real Madrid)<\/p>\n<p>Xavi Espart (Barcelona)<\/p>\n<p>Est\u00eav\u00e3o (Chelsea)<\/p>\n<p>Victor Froholdt (Porto)<\/p>\n<p>Joane Gadou (Borussia Dortmund)<\/p>\n<p>Jorrel Hato (Chelsea)<\/p>\n<p>Finn Jeltsch (Stuttgart)<\/p>\n<p>Lennart Karl (Bayern Munich)<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-article-image\" data-testid=\"article-image\">\n<figure class=\"sdc-article-image__figure\">\n<div class=\"sdc-article-image__wrapper\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\">\n          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/768x432\/skysports-charalampos-kostoulas_7356261.jpg?20260919155810\" srcset=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/384x216\/skysports-charalampos-kostoulas_7356261.jpg?20260919155810 380w, https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/768x432\/skysports-charalampos-kostoulas_7356261.jpg?20260919155810 760w, https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/1600x900\/skysports-charalampos-kostoulas_7356261.jpg?20260919155810 1024w, https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/2048x1152\/skysports-charalampos-kostoulas_7356261.jpg?20260919155810 2048w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1024px) 1024px, 100vw\" alt=\"Charalampos Kostoulas has hit goalscoring form for Brighton this season\" data-testid=\"article-image-image\"\/>\n    <\/div><figcaption class=\"ui-media-caption\" data-testid=\"article-image-caption\">\n        <span class=\"u-hide-visually\">Image:<\/span><br \/>\n        <span class=\"ui-media-caption__caption-text\" data-testid=\"article-image-caption-text\">Charalampos Kostoulas has hit goalscoring form for Brighton this season<br \/>\n        <\/span><br \/>\n      <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Konstantinos Karetsas (Borussia Dortmund)<\/p>\n<p>Charalampos Kostoulas (Brighton)<\/p>\n<p>Eli Junior Kroupi (Bournemouth)<\/p>\n<p>Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal)<\/p>\n<p>Sa\u00efd El Mala (K\u00f6ln)<\/p>\n<p>Jon Martin (Real Sociedad)<\/p>\n<p>Franco Mastantuono (Fiorentina, on loan from Real Madrid)<\/p>\n<p>Rodrigo Mora (Roma)<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-article-image\" data-testid=\"article-image\">\n<figure class=\"sdc-article-image__figure\">\n<div class=\"sdc-article-image__wrapper\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\">\n          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/768x432\/skysports-bournemouth-rayan_7354884.jpg?20260917203403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/384x216\/skysports-bournemouth-rayan_7354884.jpg?20260917203403 380w, https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/768x432\/skysports-bournemouth-rayan_7354884.jpg?20260917203403 760w, https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/1600x900\/skysports-bournemouth-rayan_7354884.jpg?20260917203403 1024w, https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/09\/2048x1152\/skysports-bournemouth-rayan_7354884.jpg?20260917203403 2048w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1024px) 1024px, 100vw\" alt=\"Bournemouth's Rayan has been a revelation since he was signed in January\" data-testid=\"article-image-image\"\/>\n    <\/div><figcaption class=\"ui-media-caption\" data-testid=\"article-image-caption\">\n        <span class=\"u-hide-visually\">Image:<\/span><br \/>\n        <span class=\"ui-media-caption__caption-text\" data-testid=\"article-image-caption-text\">Bournemouth&#8217;s Rayan has been a revelation since he was signed in January<br \/>\n        <\/span><br \/>\n      <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Gianluca Prestianni (Benfica)<\/p>\n<p>Rayan (Bournemouth)<\/p>\n<p>Luka Vuskovic (Brighton)<\/p>\n<h3>Every past Golden Boy winner<\/h3>\n<p><strong>2003:<\/strong> Rafael van der Vaart<\/p>\n<p><strong>2004:<\/strong> Wayne Rooney<\/p>\n<p><strong>2005:<\/strong> Lionel Messi<\/p>\n<p><strong>2006:<\/strong> Cesc F\u00e0bregas<\/p>\n<p><strong>2007:<\/strong> Sergio Ag\u00fcero<\/p>\n<p><strong>2008:<\/strong> Anderson<\/p>\n<p><strong>2009:<\/strong> Alexandre Pato<\/p>\n<p><strong>2010:<\/strong> Mario Balotelli<\/p>\n<p><strong>2011:<\/strong> Mario G\u00f6tze<\/p>\n<p><strong>2012:<\/strong> Isco<\/p>\n<p><strong>2013:<\/strong> Paul Pogba<\/p>\n<p><strong>2014:<\/strong> Raheem Sterling<\/p>\n<p><strong>2015:<\/strong> Anthony Martial<\/p>\n<p><strong>2016:<\/strong> Renato Sanches<\/p>\n<p><strong>2017: <\/strong>Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/p>\n<p><strong>2018: <\/strong>Matthijs de Ligt<\/p>\n<p><strong>2019:<\/strong> Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix<\/p>\n<p><strong>2020:<\/strong> Erling Haaland<\/p>\n<p><strong>2021:<\/strong> Pedri<\/p>\n<p><strong>2022:<\/strong> Gavi<\/p>\n<p><strong>2023:<\/strong> Jude Bellingham<\/p>\n<p><strong>2024:<\/strong> Lamine Yamal<\/p>\n<p><strong>2025:<\/strong> D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/football\/news\/13595540\/golden-boy-2026-arsenals-myles-lewis-skelly-among-premier-league-stars-on-25-man-shortlist-for-europes-best-u21-player\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal and England midfielder Myles Lewis-Skelly has been included in the 25-man shortlist for this&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballars.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballars.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballars.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballars.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballars.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/footballars.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballars.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/footballars.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballars.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/footballars.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}