There are still three Dutch people in the race for the Golden Boy Award of 2022. The Italian newspaper Tuttosport, which organizes the prestigious prize for players up to the age of 21, has reduced the list of nominees to forty names and three Dutchmen can be found on it. Brian Brobbey (Ajax), Xavi Simons (PSV) and Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern Munich) still have a chance.
Brobbey definitively returned to Ajax this summer and was immediately important for his team by being accurate against Fortuna Sittard and FC Utrecht. The striker seems to have lost his base place since the home game against Rangers (4-0 win), as Mohammed Kudus was preferred and has since become an integral part of the basic team. Former teammate Gravenberch caused a furore at Ajax, where he made his debut at the age of sixteen. This summer, just like Noussair Mazraoui, he left for Bayern, where the two are currently looking for playing minutes.
Simons is also still on the list of contenders. The nineteen-year-old midfielder annex attacker, to everyone’s surprise, signed a five-year contract in Eindhoven this summer and for the time being meets the high expectations. The creative is regularly in the base and with his flexibility is a weapon against especially compact plows. After the injury of Luuk de Jong, Simons has taken over his place as center attacker from PSV, among other things.
After the announcement of the first hundred nominees, there are now forty candidates left. Among others, Noni Madueke, Ki-Jana Hoever (both PSV) and Francisco Conceição (Ajax) have lost weight. Bjorn Meijer, who has become a permanent fixture since his transfer from FC Groningen to Club Brugge, is no longer on the shortlist. Whether a Dutchman will actually win the prize remains to be seen. Ansu Fati and Gavi of Barcelona and Eduardo Camavinga of Real Madrid are among the list of contenders. Rafael van der Vaart (2003) and Matthijs de Ligt (2018) are the only two Dutch winners of the prize for the time being.
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