Golden Boy 2025: Who will take over from Lamine Yamal?

Published:12/06/2025 - 06:32h

Updated:12/06/2025 - 11:27h

The newspaper 'Tuttosport' already has its nominees for the Golden Boy 2025. Will Pau Cubarsí be able to take over from Lamine Yamal? The award ceremony will be held in December this year

The 'race' for the Golden Boy 2025 now has the Paris Saint-Germain winger, Desiré Doué, as the favorite for the award that the Italian newspaper 'Tuttosport' has been giving annually since 2003 to the best young player (Under-21) in the world.

Lamine Yamal, winner of the 2024 edition, logically remains the most valuable young player on the planet, but according to the rules of the award, in each edition there must be a different winner and the first place cannot be repeated.

Therefore, the player from Mataró cannot revalidate the award, although he will only reach the age of majority on July 13. Another clear candidate to win the distinction is Pau Cubarsí. The center-back also turned 18 last January and shares the podium of favorites with Doué and Myles Lewis-Kelly (Arsenal).

Champions League increases Desiré Doué's favoritism for the Golden Boy

desire doue v inter milan

In the June ranking, the PSG winger appears as the main candidate, thanks to his consecration in the Champions League final. The 19-year-old striker scored twice against Inter Milan (5-0) and provided an assist, being the MVP of the match played in Munich.

Another player who has improved his position in the table is Lewis-Kelly. The 18-year-old full-back completed a great season with Arsenal and was called up by coach Thomas Tuchel for the matches against Andorra and Senegal (starter in the latter).

Lamine, for his part, had won the previous edition, taking over from Jude Bellingham (winner of 2023). The rules of the award state that:

Only players under 21 years of age are eligible.
All nominees must play for a European club.
A player who turns 21 in the year of the award cannot win the award.
Players who have won before (like Yamal) cannot revalidate the award.

FAVORITES FOR THE GOLDEN BOY 2025 (JUNE)
PLAYER	AGE	CLUB
Désiré Doue	19	Paris Saint-Germain
Myles Lewis-Skelly	18	Arsenal
Pau Cubarsí	18	FC Barcelona
Dean Huijsen	20	Real Madrid
Ethan Nwaneri	18	Arsenal
Warren Zaire-Emery	19	Paris Saint-Germain
Kenan Yildiz	20	Juventus
Tom Bischof	17	Hoffenheim
Eliesse Ben Seghir	20	AS Monaco
Endrick Felipe	18	Real Madrid

Lamine Yamal was the fourth Barça player to win the Golden Boy

For the moment, Spain is the country with the most young players winning the award (5). Of these, 3 are Barça players, which for the moment is the club with the most distinctions (4). Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal) and Isco Alarcón (Málaga) were the first Spaniards to win the Golden Boy in 2006 and 2012, respectively.

The first Azulgrana winner of the Golden Boy was Leo Messi, in 2005. After that, Pedri González and Pablo Gavi received the award in consecutive years, in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) broke the Culé hegemony, but Lamine Yamal did his homework in 2024, sweeping the votes.

Will Pau Cubarsí be able to take over from the player from Rocafonda, emulating Gavi in 2022? In the first ranking drawn up by Football Benchmark, the Catalan center-back had 95.4 rating points, while Doué was third with an average of 92 points.

Lamine is the undisputed leader with 97.7 rating, but the rules of 'Tuttosport', unlike the Ballon d'Or, prevent revalidating the award. In the case of the award given by ' Football', the Culé '19' is the favorite to inherit the award obtained in 2024 by Rodri Hernández. Ousmane Dembélé (PSG), for now, is his main rival.