Super Eagles-eligible youngster to battle Barcelona and Real Madrid stars for prestigious Golden Boy award

Atletico Madrid’s Spanish-Nigerian forward Samuel Omorodion has been nominated for the 2024 Golden Boy Award alongside some of the most talented youngsters in the world, including Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Real Madrid’s Arda Guler.

20-year-old Omorodion was on the longlist for the 2024 Golden Boy award, which rewards the most promising U-21 player in Europe’s top leagues and has been won by icons like Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Paul Pogba, and current Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham.

Omorodion was among the 100 players nominated on the first list, which will eventually be trimmed down to 40, and then 20, before a winner is announced later in the year.

The Atletico Madrid loanee joins other representatives from LaLiga including the favourite for the award, Barcelona’s Yamal, as well as other Blaugrana stars Gavi, Vitor Roque, and Pau Cubarsi.

Real Madrid’s Guler, Girona’s Savio, Atletico Madrid’s Arthur Vermeeren, Villarreal’s Ilias Akhomach, and Real Betis academy talent Assane Diao are the rest of the nominees from LaLiga.

In addition to top talent from LaLiga, the top 100 list for the Golden Boy award also includes Manchester United pair Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho, Paris Saint-Germain’s Warren Zaire-Emery, Real Madrid target Leny Yoro, Manchester City’s Rico Lewis, and Bayern Munich duo of Mathys Tel and Aleksandar Pavlovic.

Another Nigerian-eligible youngster Michael Kayode, who currently stars for Serie A side Fiorentina was also rewarded for some fine performances in the past season.

The early favourite for the award is Barcelona’s Yamal, but the 16-year-old will face stiff competition from the likes of Zaire-Emery, Guler, Garnacho, and Benfica’s Joao Neves.