Overview

• Tuttosport presented the 25-player shortlist at Genoa’s Badia di Sant’Andrea, with Patrick Vieira hosting the media day.
• Football Benchmark published the Golden Boy Index, which rates candidates on performance, playing time and club strength with bonuses for European and international minutes.
• Lamine Yamal leads the index on statistical merit but cannot win a second time under the award’s one-time winner rule.
• PSG’s Désiré Doué, ranked second on the index, is widely reported as the effective favorite, with PSG also featuring Warren Zaïre-Emery and Senny Mayulu among the finalists.
• European journalists will vote in the coming weeks, and the winner will be announced at the Golden Boy ceremony in Turin in early December, with notable finalists including Pau Cubarsí, Arda Güler, Dean Huijsen, Kenan Yildiz and wild cards Jobe Bellingham and Francesco Pio Esposito.