Three of the eight Portuguese in contention for the 2020 Golden Boy now play for Wolves
Back in August, the Golden Boy shortlist was narrowed down to 60 names, with eight Portuguese remaining in contention to win the biggest award available to young footballers worldwide - and three of them are now on the books of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
With the likes of Erling Haaland and Alphonso Davies up for the award, it is unlikely that any Portuguese will manage to win the prize, though there is a chance that they can remain in contention as the shortlist gets cut yet again in the near future.
Of the eight Portuguese, only five of them are now currently plying their trade in their home country - with three based abroad, all at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Indeed, Wolves, having signed both Fabio Silva and Vitinha from FC Porto, now have more Portuguese Golden Boy nominees than any of Benfica, Porto and Sporting, who have two, one and two players left in contention respectively.
🏆2020 🇵🇹 Golden Boy Nominees
— PortugueseSoccer.com ⚽️ (@PsoccerCOM) September 9, 2020
Eduardo Quaresma – Sporting CP
Camacho – Sporting CP
Tómas Tavares – Benfica
Gonçalo Ramos – Benfica
Tómas Esteves – FC Porto
Vitór Ferreira - Wolves
Pedro Neto – Wolves
Fábio Silva – Wolves pic.twitter.com/la5bWz4YyJ
The two Benfica players to make the list are Goncalo Ramos, who scored two goals in a matter of minutes on his senior debut for the club, and Tomas Tavares, who featured extensively in the Champions League this season.
There were then originally three FC Porto players in contention, with highly-rated right back Tomas Esteves, talented 18-year old striker Fabio Silva, and attack-minded midfielder Vitor Ferreira, who featured in 12 matches for Porto last season, the players that were plying their trade for the Portuguese champions when the shortlist was first drawn up.
However, with both Fabio Silva and Vitor Ferreira, known as Vitinha, making the move to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side now have three Golden Boy candidates in their ranks, with 20-year old forward Pedro Neto, who had an excellent season last campaign - featuring in 45 matches across all competitions, scoring 5 and assisting 5 - the other Portuguese player on the shortlist currently at Wolves. Porto, therefore, have been reduced to one.
Sporting CP, meanwhile, have a couple of players that remain on the 60-man shortlist themselves; Eduardo Quaresma, who established himself as a starting centreback under Ruben Amorim aged just 18, is one of them, while Rafael Camacho, who returned to Lisbon from Liverpool in the summer, is the other.
Tomas Tavares. Photo author: Вячеслав Евдокимов. License link.
