Matteo Guendouzi has been included on the 20-man shortlist for the 2019 Golden Boy award, run by the Italian publication Tuttosport and awarded by European journalists to the best footballer under the age of 21 playing in Europe.
The France under-21 international has made 57 appearances for Arsenal since moving to the Emirates from Lorient in July 2018 and recently picked up the Gunners’ player of the month award for September.
Arsenal Academy graduates Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock were on the initial 80-man longlist.
Cesc Fabregas is the only former Gunner to have won the award since its inauguration in 2003. The Spaniard won the gong in 2006, impressing for Arsenal on the road to the Champions League final.
Guendouzi, 20, has stiff competition this year with the likes of Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid) and last year’s winner Matthijs De Ligt (Juventus) also on the list.
The winner will be announced on December 16 in Turin.
20-man shortlist
Matthijs De Ligt, Juventus
Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich
Gianluigi Donnurumma, AC Milan
Ansu Fati, Barcelona
Phil Foden, Man City
Matteo Guendouzi, Arsenal
Erling Braut Haaland, Red Bull Salzburg
Joao Felix, Atletico Madrid
Dejan Joveljic, Eintract Frankfurt
Moise Kean, Everton
Kangin Lee, Valencia
Adrij Lunin, Valladolid
Donyell Malen, PSV Eindhoven
Mason Mount, Chelsea
Rodrygo, Real Madrid
Jadon Sancho, Borussia Dortmund
Ferran Torres, Valencia
Vinicius Jr, Real Madrid
Nicolo Zaniolo, Rome
on ya douzi
We’ve got ourselves a real Douzi of a player!
It’s going to be something watching Douzi and Willock tear teams apart through the middle of the pitch over the next decade or so! Both look like proper midfielders with complete games. Learning the intricacies and nuances of the game and consistency is the final key for both. Superstars in the making!
Goldendouzi
Ninja Turtles VI – Secret of the Douz
I don’t think he will win it to be honest; but to make the top 20 in Europe is no mean fit. So congratulations to him.
This guy is a star for the future; I am glad he’s an Arsenal player.
Feat*
Oh dear! Thank you for the correction. I almost had a fit seeing that.
That donyell malen dude sounds like a top bloke!! But as an aside, really happy for Matteo. Hope he has an amazing career with us
A more complete player than Nketiah. Club had to choose between him and Nketiah, and to be fair Nketiah was scoring way many goals at youth level than him, and so we released Donyell Malen.
As one would expect, club made the wrong call. Selling him in 2017 for under a million dollars to PSV when he had 3 years left on his deal.
Why always blame the club? The guy was with us for like 2 or 3 years in which he had some injuries, and he wanted to be featured in the first team more regularly, which at the time was not a possibility since he simply wasn’t good enough yet!!
Of course they sold him, otherwise it’s no use keeping around a teenager who’s unhappy with the club. Hindsight is always 20-20. Same thing happened with Bennacer.
Why do we keep letting these talents go without a buy-back clause? Man city do this every time. I.e Angelino this season from PSV. You can seriously see him coming back to fill Auba’s shoes in a couple of years time. Curse that regime! We’ve lost the chance to call our striker the Don as well, which is a real shame.
Was on YouTube last night watching videos of Malen, we’ve been linked with re-signing him for £50 mill.
Looks an exciting player from the highlights reel, but Depay went from PSV to United and completely flopped, but is apparently now doing well at Lyon.
Maybe try doing a deal with PSV now, but bring him back in 2021, a similar type of deal that we did for Saliba, because unless we’re going to sell one of Aubameyang or Lacazette? I don’t see him getting near starting for us as a No9.
Don’t know how Depay is playing in Holland–but he sure looks great playing *for* Holland.
Slightly off track, but I really liked the look of Tyrone Mings again last night. Forgot he was a lefty, which we could really do with. Seems classy and assured, and at 6ft5 actually built like a centre back. Shame we didn’t get him in the end from Ipswich for peanuts. With an England cap he’s now worth 50m.
I don’t event want to see Malen’s goals because the remorse will be even greater.
There are 19 names
Kai Havertz(Leverkusen)
That’s the guy I want next summer transfer.
Kai HAVERTZ, BAYER LEVERKUSEN, is the missing culprit
https://youtu.be/CEp6-MAFbCY
Madrid loanee GK Andrij Lunin makes the list with 5 appearances last year and none this year.. But Kai Havertz doesn’t? FIFA can go fuck themselves.
Anyway..
Congratulations to our golden boy Guendouzi. His improvement has been massive. But he needs to continue to get better defensively and improve his touch. All the other raw qualities are there.
There’s a mistake in the article, Havertz IS actually part of the 20-man list.
But yeah, FIFA can…
Isn’t the list chosen by journalists (and not FIFA)?
true, but nonetheless fifa can…
Now I look like a fool.
Not really in relation to this article, speaking of another young midfielder from Arsenal, apparently good ol’ Nico Yennaris has now changed his name to Li Ke and is a part of the Chinese national team.
If Blogs had brought a story like that, I would have assumed it was some of his usual International break antics!
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jul/01/china-football-nico-yennaris-li-ke-marcello-lippi
You didn’t listen to the Arsecast Extra, then?
What’s not to LiKe about his newfound success?
Before going for Li Ke, he apparently decided against the following names
Ai Pi
Shi Pu
Yu Suk
Ai No Gu Na No Mo
To Tnam Suk
Mr. Lo Fa Lo Fa
Li Sa Ku Dro
Shi Mel Lo Fa
Ai Lo Fe Men
Pu Si Lo Fa
He is easily in top 4 of this list by which I mean he’s 4th
Wenger on Guendouzi…
..well…you know…he is an exceptional talent, with great mental attitude. We new that from the start, and tried to sign him earlier….but you know…he was in his mother’s womb.. so there was complications with the transfer.
“And he exited his mother’s womb with a little bit on the handbrake…..”
With s little bit of hair.
The mother’s womb part totally had me.
Would be great if he won it but let’s be honest, young Sancho has got this one wrapped up and quite rightly so. He’s been fantastic
You don’t think Joao Felix will win?
Of course he will.
His contract is up in 2022 I dont see him staying beyond that. We are making the same mistakes
He is under contract until June 2022. That is more than 2,5 years from now. I think it is a bit premature to suggests that we will not be able to extend his contract.
A bigger club will come in for him that’s guaranteed then we are left with a player running down his contract. Ramsey,rvp,Sanchez and some more it’s history repeating itself
You must be fun at parties.
There is no “bigger” club than Arsenal.
We’re by far the greatest team…..
Chill out Aubrey your name is not the club’s fault! ?
Go on the link in the article and vote for the guy!
We don’t want alert people to his greatness do we? ?
The last time I saw a midfield teenager at the club who looked like they were genuinely going to make it to the top was Ces and Wilshere. The latter never worked as we all hoped. Guendouzi is the third for me. There is something genuinely different with him compared to the other talented kids we have. Yes he makes occassional mistakes here and there (understandable since he is still young) but alot of times, you watch him play like a seasoned professional already. I have high hopes for Matteo
Rocky and Micky Thomas.
It was a proud moment for us when Cesc got there. Our boy was so good. One day is one day.
Is it an online vote? If so then we might as well already declare him the winner.
It is
https://m.tuttosport.com/sondaggi/calcio/golden-boy/2019/10/15-62269920/golden_boy_2019_ecco_i_20_finalisti_vota_e_partecipa_al_sondaggio_/
Its awarded by journalists isn’t it. This is a survey rather than voting.
Anyway voted for Guendouzi and he is joint top with 9% of 1070 votes atm.
Just voted myself, Guendouzi now leading the poll with João Felix second.
It teaches you Italian too. He’s a fantastic centocampista.
centrocampista–why didn’t auto correct catch that?
Lol, nice
Wot happens if he cuts his barnet?
He turns into Kenny Sampson maybe??
Besides Jadon Sancho and Jao Felix,Guendouzi could have won this easily….am glad his among the best top 5 U20 players in the world and most importantly he’s an Arsenal player!!!
4 brits on the list too, well 3 if you dont count haaland(born in leeds)
Where is Lingard on that list.
On the back, in the didn’t make it category, where you’ll find not just him but the entire ManU and Spuds players.
As long as it’s Golden Boy and not “Motherboy”
here’s how to vote for our boy
https://www.tuttosport.com/sondaggi/calcio/golden-boy/2019/10/15-62269920/golden_boy_2019_ecco_i_20_finalisti_vota_e_partecipa_al_sondaggio_/
Good he made it to the shortlist but that’s as far as it gets really.