When looking to predict who will be among football's next crop of global superstars, many will turn to the squads of successful youth teams, or to those who standout in youth international tournaments. However, these generally don't prove to be accurately predictive of who will dominate the game for years to come.

Winners of the under-17 World Cup Player of the Tournament in recent iterations of the competition include Kelechi Nwakali, Kelechi Iheanacho and Julio Gomez – certainly not household names in today's game. However, winners of TuttoSport's Golden Boy Award tend to become pretty special.

The accolade is voted on by journalists, and seeks to identify the best player under the age of 21 and playing in one of Europe's major leagues. While most who have claimed the award have enjoyed illustrious playing careers, there have been a few whose careers have stagnated, and they've ultimately failed to fulfill their potential. GIVEMESPORT has taken a look at every single Golden Boy winner, and where they are now.

2003 – 2009

Van der Vaart, Rooney, Messi, Fabregas, Aguero, Anderson, Pato

The award's inaugural winner, Rafael van der Vaart, was applauded for his exceptional year for Ajax in 2003, which had seen him explode into one of the most prolific young midfielders in world football. He'd go onto have an impressive career playing for the likes of Hamburg, Real Madrid and Tottenham, before hanging up his boots in 2019. Nowadays, the Dutchman is mostly commonly seen voicing his critical opinions on an array of players as a pundit for football broadcasts in his home country, having seemingly given up post-retirement careers in coaching and darts.

In 2004, Wayne Rooney was named Golden Boy after bursting onto the scene with Everton and completing a switch to Manchester United. His achievements in the game need no introduction, and he has pursued managerial endeavours, despite struggling in roles at D.C. United and Birmingham City. Now, the Old Trafford legend is focusing on his punditry career and has even thrown himself into the jungle, taking part in 'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here'.

After Rooney held it aloft, Lionel Messi was granted the award in 2005, and he's certainly not looked back. Still playing at a high level, arguably the greatest footballer of all time plies his trade in Miami. In 2026, he managed to help Argentina to the World Cup final and was in the running for the 2026 Ballon d'Or.

Cesc Fàbregas, 2006's Golden Boy recipient, retired from playing in the summer of 2023, and is overseeing Como's meteoric rise in Italy as manager. Winning promotion to Serie A with Gli Azzuri, the former Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea midfielder has ambitions of forging a lengthy and successful coaching career. Indeed, he steered the club to Champions League football in the 2026/27 season.

Manchester City's record goalscorer, Sergio Aguero, won the award in 2007, and now spends most of his days streaming to his 4.8 million Twitch followers after becoming one of the deadliest hitmen in the history of the Premier League. The Argentine was forced into a premature retirement in 2021 due to a heart condition, and is yet to explore a career in punditry or coaching.

Perhaps the most surprising winner of the Golden Boy award became an assistant manager in Turkey after calling it time on his playing career. Ex-United midfielder, Anderson, worked for Adana Demirspor and had been at the Süper Lig club in some capacity after retiring in 2019, but he is now without a job in management. In September 2025, it was reported that Andeson was ordered to serve time in prison after failing to pay his child maintenance.

The notorious wonderkid Alexandre Pato was the final man to win the award in the noughties. Without a club after being released by Sao Paulo earlier this year, Pato is still only 36 but officially hung up his boots in January 2025 after failing to reach the heights expected of him. In the infancy of his career, he was mooted as the next big thing.

2010 – 2019

Balotelli, Gotze, Isco, Pogba, Sterling, Martial, Sanches, Mbappe, De Ligt, Felix

Mario Balotelli was the first Golden Boy winner of the 2010s, and the Italian striker's career has arguably not gone in the direction he might have once hoped. After leaving Genoa in 2025, Balotelli signed for UAE-based side Al-Ittifaq.

Mario Gotze was once Europe's hottest young playmaker, but the Bundesliga journeyman has settled for a squad role at Eintracht Frankfurt in his early 30s. Meanwhile, the German's Spanish counterpart, Isco, who developed at a similar time to Gotze, is fairing slightly better, taking up a talismanic role in his home country with Real Betis.

2013 Golden Boy winner Paul Pogba became a free agent after being released by Juventus in recent years following a doping ban. The suspension came to an end in March 2025, and he moved back to his homeland to join AS Monaco. However, it didn't work out and he left the club after just six appearances. As over November 2026, he was a free agent.

Raheem Sterling's exploits for Liverpool in 2014 earned him the prodigious accolade – but now he is without a club after disapponting spells at Chelsea and Feyenoord. 2015 recipient Anthony Martial continues this trend of winners whose careers have declined slightly earlier than they'd have hoped, with the Frenchman most recently playing with Monterrey. Things didn't start swimmingly, though, and he left the club on June 2026 to become a free agent once more.

Renato Sanches stormed into the footballing landscape in 2016, but hasn't really kicked on since. The former Swansea City loanee is now a free agent, having most recently plied his trade in Greece for Panathinaikos, on loan from Paris Saint-Germain. One of the more successful winners, Kylian Mbappe's 2017 antics have carried forward into years of exceptional productivity. And although he struggled to hit the ground running upon his arrival to Real Madrid, he's now firing on all cylinders.

The first defender to win the Golden Boy award to date, Matthijs de Ligt, left Bayern Munich for Manchester United in the summer of 2024, and has endured a mixed experience at Old Trafford, with the club going through a number of different managers during his time there. The Dutchman claimed the accolade a year prior to another who has also earned his corn in England's top flight: Joao Felix.

Felix – a regular Portugal international – was viewed as a supreme talent in 2019, and subsequently earned a big money move to Atletico Madrid from boyhood club Benfica. Years of stagnation in the Spanish capital saw him wash up at Chelsea, but he eventually didn't make the grade in the English capital. As of the autumn of 2026, he has lined up alongisde compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr.

2020 – 2026

Haaland, Pedri, Gavi, Bellingham, Yamal, Doue, Cubarsi

Manchester City's Erling Haaland – who is, without a doubt, widely regarded as one of the best strikers in world football – was nominated as the Golden Boy winner in 2020, after enjoying an outstanding year with Borussia Dortmund. Now the most prolific number nine in Europe, the record-setting Norwegian continues to scale new heights on the goalscoring frontier.

In 2021 and 2022, two Barcelona midfielders emerged from La Masia and flourished on the La Liga and continental stage. First Pedri, and then Gavi, both Spanish midfielders have struggled with injuries in recent campaigns, but they both remain key to Hansi Flick and his entourage when they are fit and raring to go.

Jude Bellingham's incredible 2023 was rewarded with the Golden Boy title, and he's continuing to impress at the Bernabeu with Real Madrid, albeit his astounding goal-scoring exploits have hit something of a brick wall. Lamine Yamal – an inevitable recipient of multiple Ballon d'Or – then followed in Strourbridge-born Bellingham's footsteps the following year.

Yamal became a global superstar overnight, winning Euro 2024 with Spain, leading a resurgent Barcelona and, of course, the Golden Boy award in 2024. Desire Doue – whose name, when translated into English, means 'Desired Gifted' – won the prestigious award in 2025 – and he can attribute his part to play in Paris Saint-Germain's maiden triumph in the Champions League as to why. He and PSG went on to repeat the Champions League feat in 2026, though the Golden Boy award went to World Cup-winning centre-back Pau Cubarsi, who became just the second defender to win it after De Ligt in 2018.