Barcelona midfielder Pedri won the 2021 Golden Boy award after playing a starring role for club and country.
The award is handed out by Italian newspaper Tuttosport. The Golden Boy is an award that is given by sports journalists to a young footballer playing in Europe perceived to have been the most impressive during a calendar year (two halves to two separate seasons). All nominees must be under the age of 21 and play in a European nation’s top tier.
Pedri won by an absolute mile from Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham. Pedri got 318 points against 119 for Bellingham and apparently “never in the history of the Golden Boy trophy has there been such a gigantic gap.”
The 18-year-old becomes just the second Barca player, after Lionel Messi, to land the trophy.
Pedri enjoyed a stellar rise since signing for the Catalan giants from Las Palmas in the summer of 2020. He’s become not just a regular but a key player for Barca and Spain, winning the Copa del Rey and picking up a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Barcelona moved to secure Pedri’s long-term future recently. The teenager agreed a contract until 2026 with a €1 billion release clause in October.
Pato was crowned the Golden Boy winner in 2009 after enjoying an incredible start to his AC Milan career.
However, injuries began to take their toll and the striker returned to his native Brazil in 2013 before making a brief return to Europe with Chelsea and Villarreal.
Sterling announced himself to the world with a string of excellent displays for Liverpool as the Reds narrowly missed out on the Premier League title in 2014.
The winger went on to join Manchester City for £50million in 2015 but endured a difficult debut season at the Etihad.
Under the guidance of Pep Guardiola, he became one of the most dangerous attackers in the Premier League, winning three league titles.
Paul Pogba was named the 2013 Golden Boy after winning the individual award with Juventus in 2013, one year after his tumultuous departure from Manchester United.
In 2016, the Frenchman returned to Old Trafford for a world-record sum, but he has struggled to find his best form at United consistently.
Pogba did, however, played a significant role in France’s 2018 World Cup victory.
This young centre back is a Dutch professional footballer who is currently for Serie A club Juventus and the Netherlands national team.
In March 2018 he was named youngest captain of Ajax. This year, Ajax reached the semifinals of UEFA Champions league by defeating many big teams like Real Madrid. They achieved this feat after more than 20 years.
In addition to all this he is the first and only defender to get this award!
Leo Messi won the Golden Boy award in 2005. The Barcelona man was named winner of the Golden Boy title over Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
Messi’s stats in 2004-05 weren’t particularly impressive, as he made 9 appearances for Barcelona as a 17-year-old, scoring once. However, he burst onto the scene the next season, making 25 appearances while registering 8 goals and 5 assists.
Often considered the best player in the world and widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Messi has won a record 7 Ballon d’Or awards, a record 6 European Golden Shoes, and in 2020 was named to the Ballon d’Or Dream Team.
Until leaving the club in 2021, he had spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he won a club-record 35 trophies, including 10 La Liga titles, 7 Copa del Rey titles and 4 UEFA Champions Leagues.
A prolific goalscorer and creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most goals in La Liga (474), a La Liga and European league season (50), most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and the UEFA Champions League (8), and most assists in La Liga (192), a La Liga season (21) and the Copa América (17).
Messi also holds the record for most international goals by a South American male (80). Messi has scored over 750 senior career goals for club and country, and has the most goals by a player for a single club.