England and Crystal Palace star Adam Wharton has been nominated for the European Golden Boy award.
The 20-year-old made his England debut during the 3-0 win over Bosnia, and is waiting to see if he has done enough to convince Gareth Southgate to bring him to this summer’s European Championship in Germany.
Wharton has been ranked 14th on a list of 100 players on the Golden Boy Football Benchmark Index, with the award normally handed out in December by Italian newspaper Tuttosport.
Whoever wins the award will follow in the footsteps of Jude Bellingham, who in 2023 became the third English winner of the trophy, following Wayne Rooney and Raheem Sterling.
Wharton is the third highest English player in the list with Manchester United‘s Kobbie Mainoo (7th) and Man City‘s Rico Lewis (10th) also currently in contention.
Adam Wharton is 14th in the current rankings to win the next European Golden Boy award just days after he made his England debut in a 3-0 victory against Bosnia in Newcastle
Manchester United duo Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho are top 10 in the rankings
Jude Bellingham is the current holder of the trophy which he clinched back in December
Mainoo, like Wharton, has enjoyed an excellent breakthrough season, and scored in United’s FA Cup final victory over Man City last month.
His Manchester United team-mate Alejandro Garnacho is the highest ranked player in the Premier League in 3rd – with the Argentine only behind Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Benfica midfielder midfielder Joao Neves in the current rankings.
As reported by the Sun, Golden Boy founder Massimo Franchi said: ‘The rankings are based on performances in the biggest games.
‘We have seen both Mainoo and Wharton, very impressive and potentially in England’s squad for the Euros. Maybe they can do what Bellingham did last year.’
The rankings are compiled used a algorithm based on performances and minutes played, and players are only eligible to qualify if they were born after January 1, 2004 – meaning stars like Cole Palmer are too old to be included.
Behind Garnacho in third, the rest of the top 10 includes Warren Zaire-Emery, Man United target Leny Yoro, Girona’s Savio, Mainoo, Barcelona’s Pau Cubarsi, Aleksandar Pavlovic of Bayern Munich and Lewis.
Another English player to make the top 25 of the rankings is Jamie Bynoe-Gittens in 16th.
In total, there are 11 Premier League youngsters to feature in the leading 100 names.
Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal is currently top of the pecking order in the Golden Boy rankings
Rico Lewis makes the top 10 despite not being called up for England’s Euro 2024 squad
Mainoo and Wharton are hoping to make the final 26-man squad to fly out to Germany
Newcastle pair Lewis Miley (36 and Lewis Hall (60) are in the list which includes four Brighton players – a tally only matched by Barcelona.
The four Brighton stars are Diego Buananotte (42), Carlos Baleba (58), Evan Ferguson (73) and Jack Hinshelwood (91)
Burnley’s Wilson Odobert (39) is the final Premier League player to make the list.
Bellingham received a record-breaking 485 points out of a possible 500 from the jury for last year’s award.
He was voted in first place by 45 of the jurors, and in second by the other five, as he finished ahead of Jamal Musiala, this year’s current favourite Lamal, Xavi Simons and Zaire-Emery.
