Ansu Fati, Davies, Vinicius or Haaland, among 40 nominees for 'Golden Boy'

The Spaniard Ansu Fati, of Barcelona, the Brazilians Vinicius and Rodrygo Goes, of Real Madrid, the Canadian Alphonso Davies, of Bayern Munich, and the Norwegian Erling Braut Haaland of Borussia Dortmund, featured today in the list of forty finalists for the 'Golden Boy' prize for best player under 21 of the year.

The Italian newspaper 'Tuttosport', which has given this prize since 2003, reduced the list from of finalists from 60 to 40. The hopefuls follow in the footsteps of 2019's winner Joao Félix, the Atlético Madrid attacker.

The Spaniard Ferran Torres, signed for Manchester City from Valencia this summer, and Englishman Jadon Sancho, of Borussia Dortmund, and Phil Foden, midfielder for Pep Guardiola's City are other illustrious names on the list this year. 

Ansu Fati, with his goal on the 6th of September against Ukraine, who became the youngest player to score for the Spanish national team since records began in 1925, is one of the favourites to win this year.

The impressive Spaniard surprised many during the season with 7 goals in la Liga with Barcelona.

One of his main competitors is 19 year old Alphonso Davies. One of the best left-backs in the world, he won the treble with Bayern Munich, that being the Bundesliga, the Champions League and the German Cup.

Brought up through the ranks of the Canadian Vancouver Whitecaps, Davies became a fixed part of the starting 11 for Bayern and played an important role in the final stages of the Champions League, in which the German side thrashed Barcelona 8-2.

Haaland, who scored 44 goals last season, got his start with Salzburg and later played with Dortmund, is also up for the prize. 

The first-ever winner of the prize was Dutchman Rafael Van der Vaart. Other winners include Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Isco Alarcón and Kylian Mbappé. 

This years' prize will be awarded based on the votes of forty journalists from some of the main media outlets in Europe. The winner will be awarded the prize during a ceremony planned for December in Turin, in a socially distanced setting.