18-year-old Barcelona star is now the best-placed player to win the 2025 Golden Boy award – Report | OneFootball

In the last few years, FC Barcelona have once again emerged as one of the best clubs in Europe in terms of youth talent development. Their high emphasis on this aspect and their confidence in their youngsters are quite clear from the important roles that some very young players have taken in their first team squad.

However, the Catalan club’s good work in this aspect is also clear from the way its players have dominated the youth-related awards in recent years. For instance, Blaugrana players have won the Golden Boy award three times in the last four years. Lamine Yamal won it in 2024, Gavi in 2022, and Pedri in 2021.

Pau Cubarsi is the favorite to win the Golden Boy Award 2025

Barcelona defender Pau Cuabrsi. [Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images]

In fact, another Barcelona player seems to be set to win this award once again. This is clear from a report from SPORT, which mentions that Tuttosport has officially announced the list of the first 100 candidates for the Golden Boy 2025, and Pau Cubarsi is emerging as the favourite to win it.

The number one placed candidate on this list, rated 97.7 by Football Benchmark, is once again Lamine Yamal. However, Golden Boy regulations rule out any individual who has already won the award from getting it again, and thus, he would be unable to get this award again this year.

Fortunately, the second-placed player in the ranking is also a Cule, i.e., Pau Cubarsi, who has a rating of 95.4. It is not really a surprise to see the La Masia graduate placed so highly in the rankings after he made himself a regular starter for Xavi Hernandez, and is now also a fixed starter for Hansi Flick.

This season, he played a total of 54 games, 48 of them as a starter, and won three trophies, i.e., La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the Spanish Super Cup.

Other notable players on the list

Behind these two Barcelona players, there are some other notable players from Europe present on this list, including: Desire Doue, Lewis-Skelly, Warren Zaire-Emery, and Dean Huijsen.

As things stand, only Doue has a chance to beat Pau Cubarsi for the Golden Boy award, as he will be playing in the UEFA Champions League final and also in the Nations League semi-final between France and Spain.