Key Leeds United youngster joins Bayern prodigy and Barcelona stars on shortlist with new value

The award, first established by Italian sports outlet Tuttosport, is voted for by a panel of 50 international journalists from the likes of Germany’s Bild, L’Equipe in France, Marca and Mundo Deportivo in Spain and The Times.

Last year Leeds striker Joe Gelhardt was included in the initial shortlist of 100, which was then whittled down to a final group of 20. Barcelona prodigy Gavi was the 2022 winner, keeping the award with the Catalan giants for the second successive year after Pedri picked it up in 2021. Previous winners also include Manchester City treble hero Erling Haaland, France superstar Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi.

This year the Golden Boy will be crowned a little differently. The award organisers have revealed a new ranking index that they say will help measure Europe’s top footballing talent and become a reference point.

A spokesperson said: “The Golden Boy changes and also changes the narrative of football, because the Golden Boy Index is a revolutionary tool and will become a kind of Atp ranking of football, with which to measure the best under-21s and follow their evolution over the season. The Golden Boy Index will become a point of reference for international football fans and insiders alike. In times when there is a lot of talk about artificial intelligence, we like to think we have created a tool that combines human intelligence and experience with technological perfection.

“To build our ranking, we created a joint venture with Football Benchmark, ‘The’ home of football business data: we spent months working on the project, to be able to mix the human experience of our journalists who have always compiled the lists of candidates and the solidity of statistical data, in order to create a humanised algorithm, precise and sharp in its evaluations. We are really proud of the work done and the ranking of the hundred will be the basis for choosing the Golden Boy 2023.

“The method of election, in fact, changes: there will no longer be the progressive cuts that thinned the group to 20 candidates that the jury would vote for, but all of the one hundred will remain in contention, until one month before the election. At that point, there will be the single cut and the top twenty, plus five wild cards, will make it to the final. At that point our famous panel of fifty international journalists will come into play, and they will assign their preferences, building the final ranking for the 2023 Golden Boy award.”

The 2023 Golden Boy Index has now been published and shows Leeds man Gnonto sitting at 70th in the top 100. A fully-fledged Italian international, Gnonto had to bide his time to make an impact at Premier League level after joining Leeds on deadline day last summer but eventually became one of the side’s best attacking threats. Although his form did waver and he fell out of favour when Javi Gracia was in charge, Gnonto ended the campaign with two Premier League goals and four assists.

His performances have made it highly likely that Leeds’ desire to keep him and his desire to stay will be tested this summer. 49ers Enterprises identified the 19-year-old as one of those they would attempt to retain and build a team around, along with Tyler Adams and Max Wober. Of the three, the latter appears the most likely to stay put, with Serie A clubs among those thought to be monitoring Gnonto and a host of top league outfits eyeing midfield enforcer Adams.

According to the Golden Boy Index, Gnonto’s value sits around £16m. Leeds purchased him for a sum of under £5m when they brought him in from Zurich last summer.

Bayern Munich talent Jamal Musiala is ranked first in the 2023 index, with Jude Bellingham – now of Real Madrid – second and last year’s winner Gavi third.