List of Golden Boy 2025 nominations
Pau Cubarsi – Barcelona Dean Huijsen – Real Madrid Arda Guler – Real Madrid Franco Mastantuono – Real Madrid Desire Doue – Paris Saint-Germain Warren Zaire-Emery – Paris Saint-Germain Senny Mayulu – Paris Saint-Germain Kenan Yildiz – Juventus Ethan Nwaneri – Arsenal Myles Lewis-Skelly – Arsenal Jorrel Hato – Chelsea Estevao – Chelsea Lucas Bergvall – Tottenham Hotspur Archie Gray – Tottenham Hotspur Geovany Quenda – Sporting Lisbon Leny Yoro – Manchester United Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City Jobe Bellingham – Borussia Dortmund Francesco Pio Esposito – Inter Rodrigo Mora – FC Porto Giovanni Leoni – Liverpool Aleksandar Stankovic – Club Brugge Eliesse Ben Seghir – Bayer Leverkusen Victor Froholdt – FC Porto Mamadou Sarr – Strasbourg
Of the 25 nominees, Desire Doue, Arda Guler, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Kenan Yildiz are the stars most likely to win the award.
Unlike France Football's Ballon D'or awarded to the best player in the world, Tuttosport's Golden Boy will aim at young talents under the age of 21.
There have been many who have won this award and then become superstars such as Wayne Rooney (2004), Lionel Messi (2005), Sergio Aguero (2007), Kylian Mbappe (2017), Erling Haaland (2020) and Lamine Yamal (2024). However, many people have lost form very quickly after winning the award and have gradually disappeared, many of whom have later been involved in scandals leading to banking such as Anderson (2008), Paul Pogba 2013 and Renato Sanches (2016).
To be included in this list of candidates, players must be born after January 1, 2005 and be in the first team of clubs in the group of 25 highest coefficients of UEFA. Although only 18 years old (not yet over 21) Lamine Yamal no longer has a chance to compete because a player has only won a maximum of 1 Golden Boy award in his career.
The reigning Champions League champions Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid are the clubs with the most nominations, with 3 players on the shortlist. PSG will see Desire Doue, Warren Zaire-Emery and Senny Mayulu. Meanwhile, Real Madrid have the participation of Dean Huijsen, Arda Guler and Franco Mastantuono.
Of the 25 candidates for the Golden Boy 2025, only 1 person has entered the Top 5 of Ballon D'or 2025, Desire Doue (ranked 11. He and PSG have just had a perfect season with a treble, especially the first time the French capital team won the Champions League.
Desire Doue stands out as a key player in Luis Enrique's squad. Even in the Champions League final against Inter Milan last season, the French striker scored a double, accompanied by a superb performance.
Seeing Desire Doue playing football, PSG fans remember Neymar. Doue has a good tactical mindset, the most skillful ball handling skills at PSG at the moment and is always fighting. With a treble and countless impressive performances last season in the PSG shirt, it is not difficult to understand if Doue won the Golden Boy 2025.
Meanwhile, Arda Guler has gradually started more at Real Madrid under Xabi Alonso, unlike under Carlo Ancelotti. However, Guler's disadvantage in comparing to Doue is the title. Doue had a lot last season while Real were truly left empty-handed.
In the national team, Doue's France is much stronger than Guler's Türkiye, often achieving better results. Therefore, when putting Doue in this aspect, Guler is somewhat at a disadvantage.
