London stars Dele Alli, Alex Iwobi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the running for Golden Boy award

Golden Boy: Alli has starred for Spurs but can he pip the continent's finest youngsters to the prize?
Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
James Benge29 September 2016

London trio Dele Alli, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Alex Iwobi are among the nominees for the prestigious Golden Ball award handed out to Europe’s brightest young star.

The trio are among 10 Premier League players on the 40-strong shortlist for prospects under 21, with only those born after January 1, 1996 eligible for consideration.

The award, organized by Italian newspaper Tuttosport, has been running since 2003 and was won by Cesc Fabregas in 2006, when the Spanish midfielder was at Arsenal.

Iwobi will be hoping to become the second youngster to grab the prize and has certainly done his cause no harm in recent weeks, establishing himself as a regular in Arsene Wenger’s strongest side and winning the man of the match award in Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over Chelsea last weekend.

However he will do well to beat Alli, who began 2016 in inspired form and scored six goals in Tottenham’s bid to steal the title from Leicester. The 20-year-old has since put pen to paper on a new six year deal at White Hart Lane worth nearly £55,000-per-week.

Loftus-Cheek has become one of the few youth prospects at Chelsea to carve out a place in the squad and enjoyed regular minutes under Guus Hiddink in the second half of last season. The 20-year-old is not the only Stamford Bridge prospect on the list of nominees as Andreas Christensen, currently on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach, also makes the grade.

The Chelsea players out on loan

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Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford, Renato Sanches and Kingsley Coman of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele are all likely to be among the leading candidates for the prize, which is decided by a panel of journalists.

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