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Liverpool star Raheem Sterling has won the 2014 Golden Boy Award given to the best young player in Europe. The 20-year-old beat 39 other competitors to the award. The former Queens Park Rangers academy player helped Liverpool pose a serious title challenge last season and has been the sole bright spot at Anfield in 2014-15. He was one of England’s best players at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil earlier this year and is an integral part of his national side’s 2016 Euro qualifiers campaign.
He had also won Liverpool’s Young Player of the Year award last season.
"It's a great achievement to win such an award," he told the Official Liverpool website. "It's a really happy feeling for me and my family, of course.
"Something I've always wanted to do is to work hard playing football and try to be recognised. I'm really grateful that people have shown me this recognition.
"It's down to hard work. I'm really happy that people are recognising that I'm trying to work hard and do my best for this football club. I'm really grateful for this award."
Sterling was among the 10 nominees from the Premier League for the award.
Below are the nominations:
Premier League (10): Kurt Zouma (Chelsea), Calum Chambers (Arsenal), Adnan Januzaj, Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Everton), Raheem Sterling, Lazar Markovic, Divock Origi (Liverpool), Nabil Bentaleb, Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur).
La Liga (5): Saúl Ñíguez (Atlético Madrid), Gerard Deulofeu (Sevilla), Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao), Sandro Ramirez, Munir El Haddai (Barcelona).
Serie A (5): Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Mateo Kovacic (Inter), Bernardeschi Franco (Fiorentina), Kingsley Coman (Juventus), Keita Baldé Diao (Lazio).
Bundesliga (6): Hakan Calhanoglu (Bayer Leverkusen), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Dortmund), Julian Green (Hamburg), Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Gianluca Gaudino (Bayern Munich), Maximilian Meyer (Schalke).
Ligue 1 (4): Marquinhos, Adrien Rabiot (Paris Saint-Germain), Benjamin Mendy (Marseille), Lucas Ocampos (Monaco).
Eredivisie (3): Tonny Vilhena (Feyenoord), Jetro Willems (PSV), Arkadiusz Milik (Ajax).
Other nominees (7): Oliver Torres (Porto), Bruma (Galatasaray), Gonzalez (Basel), Nikola Ninkovic (Partizan Belgrade), Luka Zahovic (Maribor), Dennis Praet, Alexander Mitrovic (Anderlecht).
Previous winners of the award include:
2003 Rafael van der Vaart (Holland; Ajax)
2004 - Wayne Rooney (England; Everton)
2005 - Lionel Messi (Argentina; Barcelona)
2006 - Cesc Fabregas (Spain; Arsenal)
2007 - Sergio Aguero (Argentina; Atletico Madrid)
2008 - Anderson (Brazil; Manchester United)
2009 - Alexandre Pato (Brazil; AC Milan)
2010 - Mario Balotelli (Italy; Manchester City)
2011 - Mario Gotze (Germany; Borussia Dortmund)
2012 - Isco (Spain; Malaga)
2013 - Paul Pogba (France; Juventus)
The award was originally created by Italian paper Tuttosport in 2003. The first winner was Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart. The only other Englishman to win it was Wayne Rooney in 2004. Other notable winners include Messi, Aguero, Fabregas and Gotze.
30 publications across Europe nominate five players, with 10 points awarded to the first choice, seven to second, five for third, three for fourth and one for fifth. The winner is the player with the most points.
