Kylian Mbappe has been confirmed as the winner of the Golden Boy award for the best playing under the age of 21 in Europe, although there is confusion about who came third.
The France forward Kylian Mbappe won the Golden Boy award for the best young player in Europe, fending off competition from Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembélé and Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford.
The 18-year-old came to prominence last season, scoring six Champions League goals to propel Monaco to the semi-finals while playing a huge part in the club’s title-winning Ligue 1 season, scoring 15 goals from an often wide berth.
The Paris Saint-Germain striker, who joined on loan from Monaco this summer ahead of a £160m deal next year, has four goals and four assists this season as well as helping his former club to the Champions League semi-finals and the Ligue 1 title.
He is now one-third of one of the terrifying front threes in Europe alongside Neymar and Edinson Cavani and joins the likes of Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney and Paul Pogba who have also won the award.
Mbappe beat Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele to win but Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford appears to have beaten City’s Gabriel Jesus into third, despite not being included in the three finalists revealed last week.
Mbappe won with 291 votes ahead of Dembele’s 149 but Tuttosport, who said it was Jesus joining the other two in the final, reported that Rashford received 76 votes, with the Brazilian receiving just 72.
AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma came in fifth with Borussia Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic in sixth.
