The Golden Boy for 2021 is Barcelona’s Pedri. Which greats won this poll?

The Golden Boy is a football award given to young footballers under 21 playing in Europe. The winner is always announced at the end of the calendar year and is therefore judged over two halves of different seasons. The poll was founded in 2003 by the Italian daily Tuttosport and is voted for by football journalists.

This year is the nineteenth winner of this relatively recent poll. The Spanish youngster Pedri has joined the ranks not only of world-famous football legends, but also of players who have failed to fulfil their star potential.

Apart from the Italian Tuttosport, journalists from other foreign newspapers – Bild (Germany), Blick (Switzerland), A Bola (Portugal), l’Équipe (France), France Football (France), Marca (Spain), Mundo Deportivo (Spain), Ta Nea (Greece), Sport Express (Russia), De Telegraaf (Netherlands) and The Times (UK) – also vote in the poll.

Each of the forty selected judges then allocates 10, 7, 5, 3 and 1 points to the nominated players according to their preferences.

As the director of Tuttosport explained.: “Out of the forty journalists who voted on behalf of the most prestigious newspapers on the European continent, twenty-four editors voted for Pedri in first place, nine in second place and three in third place.”

Another star youngster, Jude Bellingham, is reported to be in second place by 199 points. Other names mentioned in this year’s poll included Dortmund’s Giovanni Reyna and Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood.

One cannot speculate long over the legitimacy of Pedri’s award. After all, from the beginning of this year until the end of September, when he picked up an injury, he played in just about every game he could. He has become a key player not only for Barcelona but also for the Spanish national team.

Pedri has the lion’s share not only in Barcelona’s third place in the league or in winning the Copa del Rey last season, but also in reaching the semi-finals of EURO 2020 with the senior national team and then the final of the 2020 Olympic Games with the under-23 national team.

Pedri is only the second Barcelona player to win the award for the best youngster in European football. It will come as no surprise that the first was the legendary Lionel Messi in 2005.

Other footballers who have managed to win the trophy during their time in the Spanish La Liga include Sergio Agüero for Atlético Madrid (2007), Isco for Málaga (2012) and Joao Felix (2019) with the second half of the calendar year at Atlético Madrid. Ten strikers, eight midfielders and one defender have historically won the award.

Source:: YouTube, Golden Boy