Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford is in contention for the Golden Boy award after being included in the final 40-man shortlist.
Manchester United fans have been treated to impressive performances by the club’s exciting youngster Marcus Rashford, whose meteoric rise from the U-18 squad to being an integral part of the first-team setup at the club has caught the imagination of not only the Red Devils faithful, but also the whole of England.
And, things appear to keep getting better for the young lad who has now scored 7 goals in his last 7 games as the English international has been named in the 40-man contingent in the final shortlist for the Golden Boy award.
The Golden Boy trophy is a felicitation inaugurated by Italian publication Tuttosport way back in 2003 in order to award the most enterprising youngster of the European football each year and is voted for by journalists from 30 of Europe’s top newspapers.
The 2016 Golden Boy nominations contain several Premier League players, in a list of very talented youngsters. pic.twitter.com/m7fzFxLxrm
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) September 29, 2016
The Italian publication has released its shortlist for the current year and has named the Manchester United teenager among a list of exciting youngsters which include among others, Kelechi Iheanacho of Manchester City, Dele Alli of Tottenham and Alex Iwobi of Arsenal representing the English contingent on the list.
The full list of the Golden Boy nominees for 2016 is as below :
Dele Alli (Tottenham), Marco Asensio (Real Madrid), Leon Bailey (Racing Genk), Riechedly Bazoer (Ajax), Gabriel Boschilia (Monaco), Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Andreas Christensen (Borussia Monchengladbach, on loan from Chelsea), Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich, on loan from Juventus), Ante Coric (Dinamo Zagreb), Amadou Diawara (Napoli), Mahmoud Dahoud (Gladbach), Danilo (Benfica), Moussa Dembele (Celtic), Ousmane Dembele (Borussia Dortmund) Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan), Breel Ambolo (Schalke), Carlos Fernandez (Sevilla), Gabigol (Inter), Aleksandr Golovin (CSKA Moscow), Demarai Gray (Leicester City), Marko Gruijic (Liverpool), Goncalo Guedes (Benfica), Alen Halilovic (Hamburg), Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City), Alex Iwobi (Arsenal), Viktor Kovalenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), Emanuel Mammana (Lyon), Nathan (Vitesse, on loan from Chelsea), Ruben Neves (Porto), Jules Ntcham (Genoa), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich), Jairo Riedewald (Ajax), Antonio Sarabria (Real Betis), Leroy Sane (Manchester City), Jonathan Tah (Leverkusen), Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht), Almamy Toure (Monaco).
Manchester United could see the Golden Boy award heading towards the Old Trafford for the second year in a row as Anthony Martial had won it last year. United’s new superstar Paul Pogba was also a recipient of the award back in 2013 and Rashford is considered a strong contender for top spot with superb performances since making his debut back in February 2016.
