The inclusion of Barcelona wonderkid Ansu Fati in this year’s shortlist of players for the 2019 Golden Boy award does not appear to have gone down well with followers of the game.
The Golden Boy award was established by Italian newspaper Tuttosport in 2003 and seeks to reward the most impressive young footballer under 21 within a calendar year.
In the past it has been won by recognizable names such as Lionel Messi,Paul Pogba,Mario Balotelli and more recently Matthijs De Ligt.
Despite leaving no doubt in the minds of anyone who has seen him play that he is a gem in the making, his accumulated game time of 172 minutes over 5 games with two goals has left a number of fans baffled by his inclusion.
This FIFA golden boy list is totally biased. Why the hell is chukwueze not in there. And then they squeezed in ansu fati. Really?
— TZAR (@fizz_ayo) October 15, 2019
Ansu Fati who’s yet to play 180 minutes of professional football got shortlisted for the final 20 of the golden boy award.
Do we still need to take FIFA awards serious?
— Azeez Olajide ❼ (@zeezish___) October 15, 2019
I’m a Barca fan. I love Ansu Fati but including him in the list for the Golden Boy Award is funny. He is really talented but hasn’t even gotten time enough to prove anything
— 🇬🇭armah ひ (@awww_ghostTears) October 15, 2019
I gave up on all these awards when Alexander-Arnold & Robertson that have 33 assists between them as a defender, since the start of last season didn’t make FIFA’s World XI, but Marcelo did.
Now Ansu Fati is gettiing recongnised ahead of proven young telents. 😏
— Temitope Ayanbisi (@AyanbisiAT) October 15, 2019
The 16 year old is currently with Spain’s U – 21 squad after agreeing recently to represent La Roja.
The other possible winners of the Golden Boy 2019 are: Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich), Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan), Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Matteo Guendouzi (Arsenal), Erling Haland (RB Salzburg), Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen), Joao Felix (Atlético Madrid), Dejan Joveljic (Eintracht Frankfurt), Moise Kean (Everton), Kang-in Lee (Valencia), Andrij Oleksijovyc (Valladolid), Danyell Malen (PSV Eindhoven), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Ferran Torres (Valencia), Vinicius Jr. (Real Madrid) and Nicolo Zaniolo (Roma).
