The ongoing battle between Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho is due to continue, with both players nominated for the prestigious Golden Boy award.
The young strikers are among several Premier League players to make a 39-man shortlist for the award, which is decided by journalists and goes to the best Under-21 player registered to a European club.
Iheanacho’s Manchester City teammate Leroy Sané is also on the shortlist, as are Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi, Leicester City’s Demarai Gray, Liverpool new-boy Marko Grujić, Tottenham and England midfielder Dele Alli and Chelsea youth product Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Andreas Christensen – currently on loan from the Blues to Borussia Mönchengladbach – also makes the cut, as does Moussa Dembélé, whose two goals for Celtic on Wednesday night helped the Scottish champions hold Manchester City to a 3-3 draw in the Champions League.
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Previous winners of the Golden Boy award include Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fàbregas and Lionel Messi, while Mario Balotelli came out on top during his time at Manchester City.
Premier League players have won the award in the last two years, with Anthony Martial recognised last year and Raheem Sterling taking top honours during his time at Liverpool. However, there are plenty of big names in with a chance of stopping the English top flight from going three for three.
Other leading candidates include Bayern Munich duo Renato Sanches and Kingsley Coman, who both played in the final of Euro 2016.
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