Three Nigerian-born top English Premier League stars, including Kelechi Iheanacho of Manchester City, Liverpool forward, Jordon Ibe and Tottenham teenager Dele Alli, are among the top 40 players named in the prestigious Golden Boy award reserved for Europe’s best under 21 player, unveiled, Friday evening,
The prestigious Golden Boy award, first established by the Italian newspaper Tuttosport, was won by Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling last year and boasts Lionel Messi (2005), Sergio Agüero (2007) and Mario Götze (2011) among its former winners.
Other Premier League-based players named in the award include: Watford’s Chelsea loanee Nathan Ake, Héctor Bellerín of Arsenal, Manchester United’s Anthony Martial, Ruben Loftus-Cheek of Chelsea, Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw.
The winner of the award, which is voted for by journalists from 30 newspapers around the world, will be announced in December. Wayne Rooney is the only other English winner after picking up the prize in 2004.
The full shortlist:
Premier League: Nathan Ake (Watford; on loan from Chelsea), Dele Alli (Tottenham), Héctor Bellerín (Arsenal), Jordon Ibe (Liverpool), Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Anthony Martial (Manchester United), Divock Origi (Liverpool), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), Adama Traoré (Aston Villa).
La Liga: Marco Asensio (Espanyol), Zakaria Bakkali (Valencia), Ángel Correa (Atlético Madrid), Danilo Barbosa (Valencia), Munir El Haddadi (Barcelona), Alen Halilovic (Barcelona), Sandro Ramírez (Barcelona),
Bundesliga: Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Dahoud Mahmoud (Borussia M’gladbach), Francisco Rodríguez (Wolsfburg), Pierre-Emile Hojberg (Schalke), Adnan Januzaj (Borussia Dortmund; on loan from Manchester United), Max Meyer (Schalke),
Serie A: Ricardo Kishna (Lazio), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio), Alessio Romagnoli (Milan).
Ligue 1: Mario Pasalic (Monaco; on loan from Chelsea), Adrien Rabiot (PSG), Adama Traoré (Monaco)
Turkish Super Lig: Jason Denayer (Galatasaray; on loan from Manchester City).
Dutch Eredivise: Anwar El Ghazi (Ajax Amsterdam), Gaston Pereiro (PSV), Tonny Vilhena (Feyenoord).
Portuguese Primeira Liga: Goncalo Guedes (Benfica), Ruben Neves (Porto).
Kazakhstan Premier League: Nemanja Maksimovic (Astana).
Croatian Prva Liga: Marko Pajca (Dinamo Zagreb).
Belgian Jupiler Pro league: Moses Simon (KAA Gent), Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht).
Serbian SuperLiga: Andrija Zivkovic (Partizan Belgrade)
