Mbappe currently outside top five in Golden Boy voting
The World Cup winner is surprisingly on the outside looking in as things stand, despite winning the award last year
France and PSG star Kylian Mbappe is currently outside the top five in the voting for the 2018 Golden Boy award.
The 19-year-old is looking to make history by becoming the first player to win the award for Europe’s top talent under the age of 21 in back-to-back seasons.
Having won the 2017 prize, Mbappe was unsurprisingly on the list of the final 20 contenders for the 2018 award that was released earlier this month.
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However, Mbappe is not among the top five as things currently stand, according to award curator Tuttosport.
Instead the top five includes Justin Kluivert (Roma), Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Vinicius Jr. (Real Madrid) and Patrick Cutrone (AC Milan).
De Ligt and Kluivert are vying to become the second Dutchman to take home the award after Rafael van der Vaart, who won the first edition of the Golden Boy back in 2003.
There is still time for Mbappe to take his place in the top five, however, with voting open until the end of November.
The award is voted on by a group of 35 journalists representing several of the largest newspapers in Europe.
Since winning the 2017 award Mbappe has considerably bolstered his case to take the prize again. The teenage star helped France lift the 2018 World Cup and won the tournament’s Best Young Player award.
Mbappe has also started the 2018-19 campaign in blistering form, scoring 13 goals in 13 appearances in all competitions so far.
There is also an online fan vote being conducted by Tuttosport with another surprising result at the moment.
The voting, which does not count toward the official award, is currently being led by Everton midfielder Tom Davies, who has no goals and one assist in eight appearances for the Toffees this season.
The 2018 Golden Boy award will be presented in a ceremony in Turin on December 17.
Some of football’s biggest stars have won the award in the past, including Lionel Messi (2005), Sergio Aguero (2007), Paul Pogba (2013) and Raheem Sterling (2014).
