Nigeria internationals nominated for Golden Boy award

The Golden Boy award is for a young player in Europe considered to be the best among his peers in a calendar year.

Photo credit: sportpageng.com

Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho have been shortlisted for the 2016 edition of the Golden Boy award.

Iheanacho who recently became the first Nigerian to score in the Manchester derby made the list having scored 10 goals in the 2015/2016 season and has three so far in the ongoing 2016/17 season.

Iwobi got into the Arsenal first team last season, scoring two goals and has become a regular for the Gunners this season.

The Golden Boy Award is meant for the best player under the age of 21 who play in a European nation’s top division.

Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford also made the cut.

The 18-year-old talent has enjoyed a stellar 2016 since making his Manchester United debut in February, including becoming an England international.

Tottenham also have a representative in England international Dele Alli. The 20-year-old scored 11 goals last season as Spurs finished third in the Premier League.

The award, founded in 2003, relates to performances across a particular calendar year, with the winner decided by a panel of 30 journalists.

Here is the full list if the nominees for the Golden Boy Awards 2016

Dele Alli (Tottenham)
Marco Asensio (Real Madrid)
Leon Bailey (Genk)
Riechedly Bazoer (Ajax)
Gabriel Boschilia (Monaco)
Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen)
Carlos Fernandez (Sevilla)
Andreas Christensen (Borussia Monchengladbach)
Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich)
Ante Coric (Dinamo Zagreb)
Amadou Diawara (Napoli)
Mahmoud Dahoud (Borussia Monchengladbach)
Danilo Barbosa (Benfica)
Moussa Dembele (Celtic)
Ousmane Dembele (Dortmund)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan)
Breel Embolo (Schalke)
Gabriel Barbosa (Inter Milan)
Aleksandr Golovin (CSKA Moscow)
Goncalo Guedes (Benfica)
Demarai Gray (Leicester)
Marko Grujic (Liverpool)
Alen Halilovic (Hamburg)
Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City)
Alex Iwobi (Arsenal)
Viktor Kovalenko (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea)
Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid)
Emanuel Mammana (Lyon)
Nathan (Vitesse)
Olivier Ntcham (Genoa)
Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich)
Jairo Riedewald (Ajax)
Ruben Neves (Porto)
Tonny Sanabria (Real Betis)
Leroy Sane (Manchester City)
Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen)
Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht)
Almamy Toure (Monaco)