English stars Sancho, Mount and Foden make 20-man shortlist for Golden Boy award
JADON SANCHO, Mason Mount and Phil Foden have made the 20-man shortlist for 2019 Golden Boy award.
The prestigious list has been whittled down from 40 to 20 and the trio are the only Englishmen left.
Europe’s best under-21 players are celebrated with the award and its previous winners include Raheem Sterling, Wayne Rooney and Paul Pogba.
Juventus’ Matthijs de Ligt won the 2018 prize which is organised by Italian newspaper TuttoSport.
The Dutchman is in with a shout of retaining the award but will have stiff competition from his Premier League counterparts.
Mount spent last year on loan at Derby but has burst on to the scene in this season’s Premier League, bagging four times already for Chelsea under Frank Lampard.
Sancho is still tearing up trees for Borussia Dortmund and has become a permanent fixture in Gareth Southgate’s England team.
Man City’s Foden still struggles for game time under Pep Guardiola but is certain to be an England international for years to come.
Foden and Mount are not the only Premier League representatives left on the list though.
Arsenal’s Reiss Nelson and Watford’s Ayotomiwa Dele-Bashiru were eliminated in the latest round of voting but Nelson’s Gunners teammate Matteo Guendouzi remains in the running.
Guendouzi, 19, has been one of Arsenal’s best players so far this campaign and recently received his first international call up for France.
The overwhelming favourite to lift the prize is Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix, while Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr could give him a run for his money.
The winner will be announced on Monday, December 16.
