England and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham has won the 2023 Golden Boy award for the best player in men’s European football aged 21 and under. The £115m summer signing from Borussia Dortmund has had an electric start to his career at the La Liga giants, netting 15 goals in 17 appearances across all competitions for Los Blancos.
The sky is really the limit for Bellingham but not all previous Golden Boy winners go on to have such exuberant and glamorous careers. Granted, Bellingham is still only 20-years old but the world really is his oyster and it’s likely he’ll go on to win a lot more trophies and awards throughout his playing career.
However, that isn’t always the case for all Golden Boy winners but the vast majority do go on to enjoy fruitful careers in professional football. Here at SportsLens, we take a look back at where every Golden Boy winner from the last ten years is after Jude Bellingham won the 2023 edition.
Gavi – 2022 Golden Boy Winner
At the moment, Gavi isn’t having a good time of it after suffering a serious knee injury in November 2023 whilst on international duty. The Barcelona and Spain wonderkid looks set to miss Euro 2024 and his main focus now is making sure he returns in time for the start of the 2024/25 season.
Gavi won the 2022 Golden Boy award after an impressive year for both club and country. He scored in the World Cup in Qatar and helped Barcelona to the La Liga title last season. Still only 19, the future is very bright for Gavi.
Pedri – 2021 Golden Boy Winner
Another Barcelona and Spain star took the plaudits in 2021, Pedri. Himself and Gavi have been likened to world beaters Xavi and Andres Iniesta and many big things are expected of the duo. Pedri is more of a playmaker and has excellent attacking and dribbling skills.
Still only 21, Pedri has played over 100 times for Barcelona and has also won La Liga. Similar to Gavi, they both have very bright futures ahead of them and they will likely be genuine world class stars in the next year or two.
So happy to have been awarded with the Golden Boy 2020 🤩 Thanks to everyone who voted for me. This is pure inspiration to work even harder and try to always do better!#GoldenBoy2020 @tuttosport pic.twitter.com/MmdcBgjTZI
— Erling Haaland (@ErlingHaaland) November 22, 2020
Erling Haaland – 2020 Golden Boy Winner
Manchester City’s serial record breaker Erling Haaland won the Golden Boy award in 2020 whilst at Borussia Dortmund. The Norwegian superstar hit 62 Bundesliga goals during his time in Germany and has gone on to win the treble with the Cityzens since.
Haaland really is one of a kind. Arguably the most natural finisher in world football currently, the 23-year old has scored more Premier League goals than games he has featured in. A truly remarkable talent who will reign supreme for years to come.
Joao Felix – 2019 Golden Boy Winner
Portuguese forward Joao Felix hasn’t really hit the lofty heights that were probably expected of him after he won the 2019 Golden Boy award. Felix was a big hit at Benfica then a big-money move to Atletico Madrid followed and although he had a very bright start, his relationship with manager Diego Simeone began to deteriorate.
A loan move to Chelsea for the 2022/23 season didn’t work out well for Felix and he is currently out on loan again, this time at Barcelona. He actually scored the winning goal against his parent club in December 2023.
Matthijs de Ligt – 2018 Golden Boy Winner
The only defender to win the Golden Boy award is Dutch star Matthijs de Ligt. The 24-year old was playing for Ajax at the time and he was instrumental in the club’s brilliant UEFA Champions League run in 2019, where they were moments away from securing a place in the final.
Since then, De Ligt secured a big-money move to Serie A giants Juventus where he won the Scudetto in 2019/20. Nowadays, De Ligt plies his trade in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich where he has won the German title and Supercup.
Kylian Mbappe – 2017 Golden Boy Winner
France superstar Kylian Mbappe was the proud winner of the 2017 Golden Boy award after he starred for Monaco and PSG. Just one year after winning the award, Mbappe was celebrating a World Cup win with Les Bleus and is widely regarded as one of the best players in world football currently.
He has been at PSG since the 2017/18 season and has scored 230 goals and contributed 100 assists in 278 appearances, as well as winning five Ligue 1 titles with the Parisians.
Kylian Mbappé at 19-years old:
🏆🏆 Ligue 1
🏆 Coupe de France
🏆 Coupe de la Ligue
🏆 French Super Cup
🏆 World Cup
🏅 World Cup Best Young Player
🏆 EURO u19's
🏅 2017 Golden Boy
🏅 Ligue 1 Young POTY
🏅 FIFPro World XIThe Future GOAT. 🇫🇷🐐 pic.twitter.com/1jr1BPEAL3
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) September 25, 2018
Renato Sanches – 2016 Golden Boy Winner
Arguably the biggest flop on the list is Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches, who won the Golden Boy award in 2016. One of the stars of the European Championship that year, Sanches has really struggled to make the step up since his victory seven years ago.
Sanches has played for the likes of Bayern Munich, Benfica, Lille, PSG and Swansea City. He is currently on loan at Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma.
Anthony Martial – 2015 Golden Boy Winner
Yes, Anthony Martial did win the 2015 Golden Boy award after an impressive start to his professional career. The French forward started out at Lyon before making his mark at Monaco, and a £36m move to Manchester United soon followed. He never really got going at Old Trafford and has faded quite badly.
His best goal scoring season came in 2019/20, where he netted 23 times in all competitions. Martial is still at Old Trafford but hasn’t completed a full 90 minutes in the Premier League for three years.
Raheem Sterling – 2014 Golden Boy Winner
Prior to Jude Bellingham‘s win, Raheem Sterling was the last English recipient of the Golden Boy award back in 2014. The winger was a Liverpool wonderkid nine years ago and he went on to win two Player of the Year awards in his time at Anfield,
Since then, Sterling has played for Manchester City where he lifted four Premier League trophies and he can currently be found strutting his stuff for Chelsea.
Paul Pogba – 2013 Golden Boy Winner
2013 Golden Boy winner Paul Pogba was one of the biggest stars in world football ten years ago but his career has stuttered a lot since then. After leaving Manchester United for the first time, Pogba was one of Juventus’ biggest stars which earned him a mega-money move back to United.
Although he won the 2018 World Cup, Pogba struggled on his Old Trafford return and went back to the Old Lady in 2022. Nowadays, he faces a lengthy ban from football for failing a drugs test but is still on Juve’s books.
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