Two Super Eagles players, Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi have been nominated for the 2016 Golden Boy awards.
The award, which was founded by Italian newspaper, Tuttosport, in 2003, is given to Europe’s most impressive footballer under the age of 21.
The duo of Iheanacho of Manchester City and Iwobi of Arsenal have been outstanding for their clubs since they made the cut to the first team last season, and have had impressive starts to the new campaign.
Other players nominated for the award are Dele Alli, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Marko Grujic and Leroy Sane, Milan’s Gianluigi Donnarumma, Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele and Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman and Renato Sanches.
More Premier League interest comes in the form of Leicester’s Demarai Gray, Chelsea’s Andreas Christensen Nathan, on loan at Vitesse, and City’ Olivier Ntcham, on loan at Genoa.
Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Paul Pogba are past winners of the award, while Manchester United’s Anthony Martial claimed the prize last year.
The list in full:
Dele Alli (Tottenham), Marco Asensio (Real Madrid), Leon Bailey (Genk), Riechedly Bazoer (Ajax), Gabriel Boschilia (Monaco), Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Carlos Fernandez (Sevilla), Andreas Christensen (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Ante Coric (Dinamo Zagreb), Amadou Diawara (Napoli), Mahmoud Dahoud (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Danilo Barbosa (Benfica), Moussa Dembélé (Celtic), Ousmane Dembélé (Dortmund), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan), Breel Embolo (Schalke), Gabriel Barbosa (Internazionale), Aleksandr Golovin (CSKA Moscow), Goncalo Guedes (Benfica), Demarai Gray (Leicester), Marko Grujic (Liverpool), Alen Halilovic (Hamburg), Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City), Alex Iwobi (Arsenal), Viktor Kovalenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Lucas Hernández (Atlético Madrid), Emanuel Mammana (Lyon), Nathan (Vitesse), Olivier Ntcham (Genoa), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich), Jairo Riedewald (Ajax), Rúben Neves (Porto), Tonny Sanabria (Real Betis), Leroy Sané (Manchester City), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen), Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht), Almamy Touré (Monaco).
