Haaland, Sancho & Fati lead 20-man shortlist for Golden Boy award

Erling Haaland, Jadon Sancho and Ansu Fati headline the final 20-name shortlist for the 2020 Golden Boy award.

The prize, presented by Italian newspaper Tuttosport and won by Joao Felix last year, is given to the best player aged 21 or under from a top-tier league in Europe.

Haaland is a leading contender for the accolade after scoring 44 goals across all competitions in 2019-20 – 16 of those coming in 18 appearances after a mid-season move from Salzburg to Borussia Dortmund.

Among all Bundesliga players last season to have scored at least 10 goals, only Robert Lewandowski (81.2) had a better minutes-per-goal record than Haaland (81.7).

7/3 – Erling #Haaland is the first player in the #Bundesliga history to score 7 goals in his first 3 appearances. He has scored with each of his first 7 shots on target. Haalelujah. @BlackYellow #BVBFCU pic.twitter.com/XCYuhZHqt2

— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) February 1, 2020

His Dortmund team-mate Sancho finished the 2019-20 league campaign with 17 goals and 16 assists, making him the first player since Opta began detailed data collection (2004-05) to register at least 15 in both categories in the same Bundesliga campaign.

The England international’s prolific campaign saw him become the youngest player (20 years, two months and six days old) in the history of Germany’s top flight to reach 30 career goals.

15 – Jadon Sancho (16 goals, 16 assists) is the first English player to register both 15 goals and assists in a single season in the top five European leagues since @mattletiss7 in the 1994-95 Premier League. Talent. #SCPBVB pic.twitter.com/35a75mhies

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 31, 2020

Despite their impressive numbers, Haaland and Sancho face stiff competition from Fati, who became the third-youngest player (16 years, 304 days old) to find the net in LaLiga history and the youngest of all time in the Champions League (17 years, 40 days).

He finished the season with eight goals in all competitions and has continued his rise this term, netting three times in as many LaLiga games and becoming the youngest player to score for Spain.

5 – @FCBarcelona‘s Ansu Fati has become the second youngest player to score five goals in @LaLigaEN in the 21st century (17 years, 229 days), after Bojan Krkić (17 years, 201 days). Stellar. pic.twitter.com/c62HeNuroD

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) June 16, 2020

Alphonso Davies will also be in contention after establishing himself as one of the top left-backs in the game during Bayern Munich’s treble-winning season.

The full 20-man shortlist:

Mitchel Bakker (Paris Saint-Germain), Eduardo Camavinga (Rennes), Jonathan David (Lille), Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich), Sergino Dest (Barcelona), Fabio Silva (Wolves), Ansu Fati (Barcelona), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Ryan Gravenberch (Ajax), Mason Greenwood (Manchester United), Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund), Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea), Dejan Kulusevski (Juventus), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Dominik Szoboszlai (Salzburg), Sandro Tonali (Milan), Ferran Torres (Manchester City), Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid).