And then there were 40! by Dan Smith
Tuttosport are recognising the best under 21-year-olds in football.
Top European Journalists will submit their votes to the Italian publication to decide who wins the 2021 Golden Boy award.
The newspaper started the concept in 2003 with previous winners like a who’s who of the sport, including Wayne Rooney, Messi, Pogba and Mbappe.
The last time a Gunner won the prize was Cesc Fabregas back in 2006.
Arsenal still have 3 representatives in the shape of Saka, Martinelli and Saliba.
RB Leipzig are the only other team who can boast more than 2 representatives on the short list.
When the original 100 was announced, we did have 4 but Balogun was eliminated when 20 had to be cut.
There are two more stages before the winner is declared in November.
Looking at their peers, it’s unlikely one of our three will come first
2021 GOLDEN BOY NOMINEES
Jude Bellingham – Borussia Dortmund
Karim Adeyemi – RB Salzburg
Rayan Ait-Nouri – Wolves
Ander Barrenetxea – Real Sociedad
Myron Boadu – Monaco
Brian Brobbey – RB Leipzig
Eduardo Camavinga – Real Madrid
Rayan Cherki – Lyon
Mohamed-Ali Cho – Angers
Francisco Conceicao – Porto
Jamal Musiala – Bayern Munich
Charles De Ketelaere – Club Brugge
Ersin Destanoglu – Besiktas
Jeremy Doku – Rennes
Eric Garcia – Barcelona
Bryan Gil – Sp*rs
Goncalo Ramos – Benfica
Ryan Gravenberch – Ajax
Mason Greenwood – Manchester United
Josko Gvardiol – RB Leipzig
Pedri – Barcelona
Ilaix Moriba – RB Leipzig
Odilon Kossounou – Bayer Leverkusen
Noni Madueke – PSV
Felix Mambimbi – Young Boys
Gabriel Martinelli – Arsenal
Mykhaylo Mudryk – Shakhtar Donetsk
Mohamed Ihattaren – Sampdoria
Nuno Mendes – Paris Saint-Germain
Roberto Piccoli – Atalanta
Bukayo Saka – Arsenal
Yeremi Pino – Villarreal
Gio Reyna – Borussia Dortmund
William Saliba – Arsenal (on loan at Marseille)
Martin Satriano – Inter Milan
Luke Thomas – Leicester City
Khephren Thuram – OGC Nice
Jurrien Timber – Ajax
Florian Wirtz – Leverkusen
Ilya Zabarnyi – Dynamo Kyiv
Pedri won the best youngster at the Euros which is why he’s the bookies favourite.
A quick glance at the nominees, and I can see only Saka having the possibility of finishing top 10?
It would be embarrassing for Arteta if Saliba, a player for two seasons he feels can’t get in our squad was deemed in the top 10 or 20 young prospects in Europe. Equally if Martinelli had been treated differently and not been injury prone he would be in the conversation
For those interested out of the 18 winners ….10 are forwards, 7 midfielders and only 1 is a defender
Saliba would be the 4th French winner, Saka the 3rd Englishman while there has never been a Brazilian winner.
Take a look at the list and tell me where our three ranks in your opinion
Be Kind in The Comments
Dan
Saliba nominated but not good enough/ready for EPL apparently, not even worth a try
Saka is a great player but that’s it, for now anyway. He looks brilliant because the poor team performances. Solid player, love him but nowhere near the best youngsters in the world.
Cherki (Lyon), Cho (Angers), Bouadu (Monoco), Doku (Rennes) and Thuram (Nice) all also nominated and all playing in France. Why are they not in the prem already? That is without mentioning the many players on that list playing in weaker leagues than France. How the conclusion is that Saliba should be playing for us this year when looking at that list is mind bending. Anything to push the personal agenda though right?
he will definitely be the second! he is becoming more and more reliable
Quite early to label Martinelli injury prone. He has had one serious injury.
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/gabriel-martinelli/verletzungen/spieler/655488
I think it is more an issue of trying to protect him, since he does have a tendency to put himself at risk by being so eager to get to the ball. I do however feel he is being held back too much at this time and it worries me.
Anyways on to the topic at hand. I think Saka will end up in top 10, but outside the top 3, and the other two will be out earlier. Not going to suggest a top 3 though, I don’t know all the players on the list well enough for that.
being biased
1 Saka
2 Martinelli
3 Saliba
Saka i think could actually make top 3~
He had a very strong season considering how bad it was again for us and he was probably the standout youngster at the Euros – for me anyway so think he is in contention for top 3
VAL the important difference between us both as keen Gooners , is that I NEVER use bias when assessing my thinking.
That way, the truth has far more chance of coming through and I have always preferred truth to fan bias. It is the whole reason why I call myself a realist. Because I am one!
And is it relevant here? Your being a realist? On an opinion article about the top 3 players on an Arsenal fans forum?
Pedri is playing on a whole different level.
I like Martinelli a lot but what has he done this year to be nominated for any award?
These sorts of awards lost all credibility when Messi and Ronaldo started to pass them to each other.
I will take the respective league awards but the global and continental no thank you.
I would love to see Saka win it for the sake of the player himself. He has done more than what was asked of him.
Hard to see past Pedri for this but could see Saka making top 3 and even a surprise victory, he played a large role in the England set-up who were clearly better than Pedri’s Spain.
Camavinga, Greenwood, Pedri