We’ve joked for the last few years that Chelsea’s recruitment policy involves trolling the Golden Boy Award shortlists for potential signings, and while that’s not exactly true, that policy is starting
to pay off on the pitch. And to boot, we also have multiple nominees among the finalists for this year’s award!
The players we don’t need to sign anymore include Jorrel Hato, Mamadou Sarr, Geovany Quenda, and of course Estêvão. Hato is part of the first-team already; Sarr is currently back on loan at RC Strasbourg while Quenda is set to join next summer in a pre-agreed transfer.
But it’s Estêvão who perhaps has a realistic shot at winning this award, largely for his exploits for Palmeiras, though he’s also making some noise in Chelsea Blue already. And what a noise it was last time at the Bridge, when he scored that 95th-minute winner against Liverpool!
No Chelsea player has ever won this award, which started in 2003. Levi Colwill made it to the last-25 in 2023, as did Callum Hudson-Odoi in 2020 and Mason Mount that year prior. The last Premier League player to win was Anthony Martial in 2015; three of the last four have gone to Barcelona players (Pedri, Gavi, Lamine Yamal) — players may only win once.
The favorite for this year’s honor is probably PSG’s Désire Doué or maybe Dean Huijsen?
The full list of nominees:
Pau Cubarsi (FC Barcelona)
Désiré Doué (Paris Saint-Germain)
Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal)
Warren Zaïre-Emery (Paris Saint-Germain)
Dean Huijsen (Real Madrid)
Kenan Yildiz (Juventus)
Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
Geovany Quenda (Sporting CP)
Jorell Hato (Chelsea)
Archie Gray (Tottenham)
Eliesse Ben Seghir (Bayer Leverkusen)
Leny Yoro (Manchester United)
Arda Güler (Real Madrid)
Victor Froholdt (Porto)
Lucas Bergvall (Tottenham)
Mamadou Sarr (RC Strasbourg)
Senny Mayulu (Paris Saint-Germain)
Estêvão (Chelsea)
Franco Mastantuono (Real Madrid)
Nico O’Reilly (Manchester City)
Jobe Bellingham (Dortmund)
Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter)
Alesksandar Stanković (Club Bruges)
Giovanni Leoni (Liverpool)
Rodrigo Mora (Porto)
