First established in 2003, the award is open to players under the age of 21 who play in a European top league. Leading newspapers from around the continent including L’Equipe, France Football, Marca, De Telegraaf and the Times put forward their nominees to come up with an original list of 40, which has now been halved before the final decision in December.

Mount has had a breakthrough year for club and country, making his Chelsea debut in August away at Manchester United and then winning a first England cap the following month in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Bulgaria.

The midfielder, who turns 21 in January, scored his first Blues goal against Leicester City at Stamford Bridge and has netted three more since then away at Norwich, Wolves and Southampton. His fine form has seen him established as a regular in Frank Lampard’s starting team.

A graduate of the Chelsea Academy, Mount is joined on the shortlist by fellow English youngsters Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho. Previous winners of the Golden Boy award include Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe. The last Englishman to be recognised was Raheem Sterling in 2014, while the forward was still playing for Liverpool.

The winner will be announced in Turin on 16 December. The 20-man shortlist in full is:

Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid)Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich)Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan)Kang-In Lee (Valencia)Phil Foden (Manchester City)Matteo Guendouzi (Arsenal)Erling Haaland (RB Salzburg)Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen)Moise Kean (Everton)Dejan Joveljic (Eintracht Frankfurt)Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus)Ansu Fati (Barcelona)Andriy Lunin (Real Valladolid)Donyell Malen (PSV Eindhoven)Mason Mount (Chelsea)Rodrygo (Real Madrid)Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund)Ferran Torres (Valencia)Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid)Nicolo Zaniolo (AS Roma)