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Manchester United striker Anthony Martial has won the Golden Boy award 2015 which is given to the best young footballer plying his trade in European football circuit and is less than the age of 21. The award has been instituted to recognise the best young football talents in Europe.
Italian publication Tuttosport started the award back in 2003 and now more than 10 top European newspapers participate in the voting. The publications that take part in the voting are, Bild(Germany), Blick (Switzerland), A Bola (Portugal), l'Équipe (France), France Football (France), Marca (Spain), Mundo Deportivo (Spain),Ta Nea (Greece), Sport Express (Russia), De Telegraaf (Netherlands), and The Times (United Kingdom).
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Martial rose to prominence after his successful spell last season with AS Monaco where he led his club to a third-place finish in the Ligue 1. He was then bought by Manchester United for £36 million, potentially rising to £58 million, which is a world record fee for a teenager.
The 20-year-old scored in his first appearance for the Red Devils against arch-rivals Liverpool. He has thus far scored three goals in 11 appearances for United in the Premier League and has been a regular starter for Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United.
The French international won the accolade ahead of 39 other nominees, which include the likes of Kingsley Coman, Hector Bellerin and Adnan Januzaj. The 40 players included in the shortlist were:
Premier League: Nathan Ake (Watford; on loan from Chelsea), Dele Alli (Tottenham), Héctor Bellerín (Arsenal), Jordon Ibe (Liverpool), Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Anthony Martial (Manchester United), Divock Origi (Liverpool), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), Adama Traoré (Aston Villa).
La Liga: Marco Asensio (Espanyol), Zakaria Bakkali (Valencia), Ángel Correa (Atlético Madrid), Danilo Barbosa (Valencia), Munir El Haddadi (Barcelona), Alen Halilovic (Barcelona), Sandro Ramírez (Barcelona).
Bundesliga: Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Dahoud Mahmoud (Borussia M’gladbach), Francisco Rodríguez (Wolsfburg), Pierre-Emile Hojberg (Schalke), Adnan Januzaj (Borussia Dortmund; on loan from Manchester United), Max Meyer (Schalke),
Serie A: Ricardo Kishna (Lazio), Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Lazio), Alessio Romagnoli (Milan)
Ligue 1: Mario Pasalic (Monaco; on loan from Chelsea), Adrien Rabiot (PSG), Adama Traoré (Monaco)
Turkish Super Lig: Jason Denayer (Galatasaray; on loan from Manchester City)
Dutch Eredivise: Anwar El Ghazi (Ajax Amsterdam), Gaston Pereiro (PSV), Tonny Vilhena (Feyenoord)
Kazakhstan Premier League: Nemanja Maksimovic (Astana)
Croatian Prva Liga: Marko Pajca (Dinamo Zagreb)
Portuguese Primeira Liga: Goncalo Guedes (Benfica), Ruben Neves (Porto)
Belgian Jupiler Pro league: Moses Simon (KAA Gent), Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht)
Serbian SuperLiga: Andrija Zivkovic (Partizan Belgrade)
The Golden Boy award for 2014 was awarded to Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, for his exploits for previous employers Liverpool last season. Previous recipients include Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Aguero and Paul Pogba.
Martial became the third United player to win the award after Wayne Rooney and Brazilian midfielder, Anderson. No other club has had more than one winner so far.
