Reiss Nelson, Stephy Mavididi and Jeff Reine-Adelaide have been included on the 100-strong longlist for the 2018 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.
Nelson, 18, enjoyed a breakthrough season at the Emirates making 15 appearances for the first team, while also helping the club’s under-23s to the Premier League 2 title. He’s a top prospect and is the least surprising of the Gunners to be listed.
Stephy Mavididi, who is yet to make his Arsenal debut, embarked on two loan moves last season, first at Preston North End in the Championship and then with Charlton in League One. He’d also been spent time at Charlton the year before. On both occasions, he suffered nasty hamstring injuries.
The Jeff returned to France last summer and spent the entire campaign with Angers in Ligue 1. He made 10 appearances in the French top flight as he looks to get his career back on track after injury problems at Arsenal. It remains to be seen whether he’s in the plans of new coach Unai Emery although it’s easy to forget that he’s only 20.
Somewhat surprisingly, Eddie Nketiah hasn’t made the list.
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.
Kylian Mbappe won the gong last season and he’s the outright favourite for it again this time around. Have you seen him? He’s quite good.
Full list of 2018 nominees
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool
Carles Alena, Barcelona
Jose Maria Amo, Sevilla Atletico
Angel Gomes, Manchester United
Mirko Antonucci, Roma
Houssem Aouar, Lyon
Giorgi Arabidze, Shakhtar Donetsk
Joaquin Ardaiz, Royal Antwerp
Ismail Azzaoui, Willem II
Musa Barrow, Atalanta
Fabian Benko, Bayern Munich
Sander Berge, Racing Genk
Justin Bijlow, Feyenoord
Bilal Boutobba, Sevilla
Brahim Diaz, Manchester City
Lorenzo Callegari, Paris Saint-Germain
Lazar Carevic, Barcelona
Daniele Collinge, Stuttgart
Patrick Cutrone, AC Milan
Dani Olmo, Dinamo Zagreb
Tom Davies, Everton
Matthijs De Ligt, Ajax
Abdou Diakhate, Fiorentina
Krepin Diatta, Club Brugge
Javairo Dilrosun, Hertha Berlin
Diogo Dalot, Manchester United
Moussa Djenepo, Standard Liege
Ritsu Doan, Groningen
Mamadou Doucoure, Borussia Monchengladbach
Odsonne Edouard, Celtic
Marcus Edwards, Tottenham
Sergei Eremenko, Spartak Moscow
Zackarias Faour, Osters
Francisco Feuillassier, Real Madrid
Phil Foden, Manchester City
Mamadou Fofana, Alanyaspor
Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Crystal Palace
Juan Foyth, Tottenham
Dennis Geiger, Hoffenheim
Giorgos Giannoutsos, AEK Athens
Ianis Hagi, Viitorul Constanta
Achraf Hakimi, Real Madrid
Amadou Haidara, Red Bull Salzburg
Kai Havertz, Bayer Leverkusen
Callum Hudson-odoi, Chelsea
Nanitamo Ikone, Montpellier
Alexander Isak, Borussia Dortmund
Arnel Jakupovic, Juventus
Dejan Joveljic, Red Star Belgrade
Herbie Kane, Liverpool
Yann Karamoh, Inter Milan
Teun Koopmeiners, AZ Alkmaar
Han Kwang-Song, Cagliari
Alban Lafont, Toulouse
Leandrinho, Napoli
Dimitris Limnios, PAOK
Justin Kluivert, Roma
Lincoln, Gremio
Jordan Lotomba, Young Boys
Davor Lovren, Fortuna Dusseldorf
Sandi Lovric, Sturm Graz
Mikhail Lysov, Lokomotiv Moscow
Arne Maier, Hertha Berlin
Dennis Man, Steaua Bucharest
Manu Garcia, Manchester City
Faitout Maouassa, Rennes
Mauro Junior, PSV Eindhoven
Stephy Mavididi, Arsenal
Kylian Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain
Weston McKennie, Schalke
Jan Mlakar, Maribor
Nikola Moro, Dinamo Zagreb
Reiss Nelson, Arsenal
Lukas Nmecha, Manchester City
Martin Odegaard, Heerenveen
Abdulkadir Omur, Trabzonspor
Matej Oravec, Spartak Trnava
Reece Oxford, Borussia Monchengladbach
Pedro Pereira, Genoa
Pietro Pellegri, Monaco
Alejandro Pozo Pozo, Sevilla
Christian Pulisic, Borussia Dortmund
Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Arsenal
Panagiotis Retsos, Bayer Leverkusen
Rui Pedro, Boavista
Yusuf Sari, Marseille
Ismaila Sarr, Rennes
Malang Sarr, Nice
Borna Sosa, Dinamo Zagreb
Moussa Sylla, Monaco
Antonio Moya Vega, Atletico Madrid
Idrissa Toure, Werder Bremen
Dayot Upamecano, Red Bull Leipzig
Moussa Wague, KAS Eupen
Chris Willock, Benfica
Ben Woodburn, Liverpool
Rafik Zekhnini, Rosenborg
Andi Zeqiri, Lausanne
Baris Zeren, Galatasaray
Luca Zidane, Real Madrid
Chris Willock on there too…..
What’s the point of the other 99? Mbappe is a foregone conclusion.
France against Argentina yesterday defines who is winning it.
How is it possible to have Mavididi and not Nketiah ? Did Nketiah’s agent forgot to post a youtube video or something?
No Maitland Niles?
Peach of a scouting list for FM
There are so many players there that are more likely to win it. They have done comparatively nothing compared to at least 20 of them guys. Oh well you gotta make up the numbers I guess.
Just to show how far apart Mbappe is. But its quiet interesting list, names we will see for the next decade
Mavididi is a place above Mbappe on the list.
He is gotta be thankful to his parents for naming him ahead of Mbappe
It doesn’t seem like a very well researched list, to be honest. Frenkie De Jong should be a contender, off the top of my head
The other 99 can tell their grand kids that they wsee on the same list as Mbappe.
The Eddie Murphy trophy.
Ainsley Maitland Niles?
Hate to be that guy again, News Hound, but Jeff went on loan to Angers in January, spending only half a season there and seemed to have an impact. 10 League game’s in the business end of the season for a young loanee with injury problems is much more impressive than how his season has been portrayed in the article.
Just saw Dennis Man on the list. What a great superhero that would be. He has all superpowers imaginable except flight.
It’s an honour to be included but when you’re up against players like De Ligt, Pulisic and, of course, Mbappe, you really don’t stand much of a chance. Well done to the lads though. Let’s hope they can keep on improving!