If anyone ever needed to be reminded about how bright the future of La Liga looked in regards to the players coming through the game, the 2021 Golden Boy award nominations should be good enough as any.
Of course, with clubs such as FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and many others who have an established history within the competition, it should come as no surprise that there are a number of talented players to be coming through the ranks.
The Golden Boy award is a great betting market for those that use maxfreebets.co.uk, as they can look to bet on who they think will be the next best talent in the game.
The first 100 names have been announced, but these will soon be whittled down to 20 in the coming weeks when journalists will then look to name their winner.
Of course, the superstar that is Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Braut Haaland managed to win the accolade last year, which means whoever does win this year’s award will have some work to do to live up to the recognition.
In regards to La Liga, there are 11 players who have been named on the top 100 players list for the Golden Boy award, with three from FC Barcelona and a further three representing Real Madrid.
Those who have been nominated that play for FC Barcelona are Pedri – who is representing Spain at the current UEFA European Championships – Ilaix Moriba (an 18-year-old who broke into the first team under Ronald Koeman) and Eric Garcia (who recently joined on a free transfer from Manchester City, having started his career at the famed La Masia).
Real Madrid will have Take Kubo as a nomination, which does not come as a surprise as the highly-rated Japanese talent was in superb form for Getafe towards the back-end of the La Liga season after a troubling time at UEFA Europa League Champions, Villarreal, in the first part.
Miguel Gutierrez is another who has been named after being given his chance by Zinedine Zidane last season as he filled in at times for an injury-hit squad, whilst Rodrygo also makes the shortlist as the Brazilian continues to be an integral member of the Los Blancos team.
Atletico Madrid have two players on the Golden Boy list, with Marcos Paulo having caught the eye before his switch to Los Rojiblancos with Brazilian outfit, Fluminese, with 11 goals and 10 assists. He is joined by German Valera, who impressed with Tenerife whilst out on loan from the Wanda Metropolitano outfit.
Bryan Gil of Sevilla impressed whilst out on loan at Eibar, whilst Yeremy Pino (Villarreal), and Yunus Musah (Valencia) complete the nominations for players under the age of 21 currently playing La Liga.
