Established by Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport in 2003, the Golden Boy award recognises and celebrates several of the standout young players currently plying their trade across the European game.

Previous winners include Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, while the 2024 award went to Spain international Lamine Yamal.

To make the final 25-man shortlist – which includes five 'wild cards' – players had to be born after 1 January 2005, play for a club in a top-flight European league, and meet a certain number of criteria, including on-pitch performances, playing time and the success of their respective clubs.

Hato has been included following a year in which he impressed for Ajax – winning the club's Talent of the Year and the Eredivisie's Johan Cruyff Talent of the Year awards – and completed a switch to Stamford Bridge.

The 19-year-old, who has been capped six times by the Netherlands, has made five appearances thus far for Chelsea, the most recent of which came during our victory over Liverpool before the international break.

Another of our nominees made a memorable mark in that game. Estevao has been selected after a year in which he starred for Palmeiras, both domestically and at the Club World Cup, before arriving at Chelsea and producing eye-catching displays.

The 18-year-old has made nine appearances across all competitions for the Blues and his stoppage-time winner against Liverpool was his first goal for the club.

Our final nominee is Sarr, who completed a transfer to Chelsea in June and was part of the squad that lifted the Club World Cup in July.

The defender, who has represented France Under-20s, is spending the 2025/26 campaign in Ligue 1 with Strasbourg, for whom he impressed last term before his switch to Stamford Bridge.

2025 Golden Boy nominations

Eliesse Ben Seghir (Bayer Leverkusen)

Lucas Bergvall (Tottenham)

Pau Cubarsi (Barcelona)

Desire Doue (PSG)

Victor Froholdt (Porto)

Archie Gray (Tottenham)

Arda Guler (Real Madrid)

Jorrel Hato (Chelsea)

Dean Huijsen (Real Madrid)

Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal)

Senny Mayulu (PSG)

Franco Mastantuono (Real Madrid)

Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)

Geovany Quenda (Sporting CP)

Nico O’Reilly (Man City)

Mamadou Sarr (RC Strasbourg, on loan from Chelsea)

Estevao Willian (Chelsea)

Kenan Yildiz (Juventus)

Leny Yoro (Manchester United)

Warren Zaire-Emery (PSG)

Wild cards

Jobe Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)

Giovanni Leoni (Liverpool)

Rodrigo Mora (Porto)

Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter)

Aleksandar Stankovic (Club Brugge)