Barcelona wonderkid the favourite for Golden Boy, Cubarsi in top ten in latest update

The Golden Boy is an annual award that recognises the best under-21 player in world football, taking into account both performances for club and country over the span of a year.

Barcelona, needless to say, are no strangers to the award. Pedri took home the accolade in 2021 while Gavi held the bragging rights in 2022.

The most recent winner of the title was Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham and the attention now turns towards the race for the 2024 Golden Boy title.

Yamal leading the pack

The Golden Boy Award is organised by Italian sports outlet Tuttosport, and earlier today, they released the Golden Boy Football Benchmark Index that sheds light on the favourites to take home the award.

Barcelona youngster Lamine Yamal, unsurprisingly, features first on the list with a rating of 94.4 and is followed by the likes of Joao Neves, Alejandro Garnacho and Leny Yoro.

The benchmark takes into account the trophies won, difficulty level, prestige and the economic resources of the club to determine the frontrunner based on an algorithm.

Having won the European Championships and being crowned the best young player of the tournament, needless to say, only strengthens Yamal’s case to win the accolade.

After all, the 17-year-old recorded a staggering seven goals and ten assists for Barcelona in 50 appearances last season.

Pau Cubarsi enters the list

While Yamal is the frontrunner, his teammate and compatriot Pau Cubarsi has also made his entry on the top ten of the list, sitting in eighth place.

The 17-year-old, after all, was a regular starter in Barcelona’s defence under Xavi Hernandez and displayed great maturity through the season to help Barcelona stabilise their position.

Cubarsi is currently on Olympic duty for Spain and starts vs Morocco in the semifinal today. Winning the gold medal, needless to say, will only improve his ranking on the benchmark.