All Premier League players involved in the Golden Boy 2020 race

Bengaluru, June 23: Due to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, fans may not have witnessed a lot of football this calendar year but the usual practice of awards presentation is stepping in their natural way.

The annual journey to name the “Golden Boy” of football has begun recently after Italian outlet Tuttosport announced a list of 100 players nominated for the coveted award.

The award has been handed out by journalists since 2003 and recognises the best footballer in the world aged 21 or under for their achievements over a calendar year.

Last year Atletico Madrid's summer signing Joao Felix grabbed the recognition. Rafael van der Vaart was the first winner and later the likes of Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Sergio Aguero all won it. More recently Paul Pogba, Raheem Sterling, Kylian Mbappe and Matheus de Ligt also have all won the award.

This year Borussia Dortmund duo Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland, along with Bayern Munich defender Alphonso Davies, are favourites to land the award. However, they would be challenged by 23 starlets from the Premier League as well.

So here are all the young Premier League guns who will compete for the ultimate glory:

Chelsea and Arsenal - 4 each

Both the London based clubs have the joint-most number of nominees - four. Callum Hudson-Odoi, Billy Gilmour, Faustino Anjorin and Ethan Ampadu all will represent Chelsea while the Gunners would have Gabriel Martinelli, Trae Coyle, Bukayo Saka, and on-loan defender William Saliba in the list.

Odoi and Gilmour both have had a big breakthrough under Lampard this term. Hudson-Odoi only has three goals and five assists to his name this term while Gilmour and Anjorin are slowly making progress from lower grades. Ampadu is among the Chelsea ranks but is currently shining on loan at RB Leipzig.

Martinelli, 18, has impressed in his debut campaign in England with 10 goals for Arsenal while Saka is also having a dream run with 10 assists.

Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool - 3 each

Three Red Devils players who have been named in the list are James Garner, Angel Gomes, and Mason Greenwood. Greenwood has enjoyed the most notable breakthrough among them by scoring 12 goals in all competitions so far this season.

United's bitter rivals Liverpool also have the same number of representatives with Curtis Jones, Yasser Larouci, and Sepp van den Berg.

City's two most emerging talents, attacker Phil Foden and defender Eric Garcia have been unsurprisingly named in the list. Foden has scored four times and assisted seven so far while Garcia has played 12 games so far. Another one who has made the cut is midfielder Claudio Gomes who is plying his trade with PSV.

Tottenham, and Wolves - 2 each

The two nominees from Spurs are Ryan Sessegnon, Oliver Skipp while Morgan Gibbs-White and Pedro Neto are the flag bearers for the Wolves.

The other two representatives include Norwich City's right-back Max Aarons and Michael Obafemi of Southampton who made their debut on the star-studded list being the sole representatives for their respective sides.