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Chiesa shortlisted for Golden Boy Award

We could have told you that he was one of the best U21 players in Europe, but it’s nice that everyone else knows it too.

By The Tito

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ACF Fiorentina v Atalanta BC - Serie A
Teen idol.
Photo by Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images

We don’t usually pay much attention to the big international award seasons, because 1) they’re kind of rigged and 2) they don’t tend to feature a lot of Fiorentina players. But we’re going to make an exception for this year’s edition of Tuttosport’s questionably-named but prestigious Golden Boy Award, handed to the most impressive player in Europe who’s under 21.

While this year, the winner was, unsurprisingly, Kylian Mbappé of France and PSG, the top ten featured a familiar name in Federico Chiesa (by the way, it’s his his 20th birthday today!), who finished ninth in the voting. To give you an idea of the company young Fede is keeping, here are the top vote getters:

  1. Kylian Mbappé (PSG) — 291 points
  2. Ousmane Dembélé (Barcelona) — 149 points
  3. Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) — 76 points
  4. Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) — 72 points
  5. Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan) —69 points
  6. Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund) — 30 points
  7. Kasper Dolberg (Ajax) —27 points
  8. Emre Mor (Celta Vigo) —13 points
  9. Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina) —12 points
  10. Rodrigo Betancur (Juventus) — 9 points

That’s a heck of a group to be mentioned with, although seeing Mor up there makes missing out on him this summer even more frustrating. Anyways, we’d have loved to see Chiesa win the trophy, but we’re happy to see his fantastic season rewarded with some international acclaim. Given the makeup of the Viola squad this year, it wouldn’t be shocking if someone like Ianis Hagi, Rafik Zekhnini, or Simone Lo Faso show up there in the next year or so.

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