The Golden Boy award for the best U-21 footballer in the world was co-founded by Massimo Franchi back in 2003, which a certain Rafael Van der Vaart crowned the winner all the way back then. But Franchi still has an eye for evaluating young players, an eye which he has cast over to Bayern Munich, where he focused on two youngsters in particular after Jamal Musiala grew too old for the award.
Speaking to Philipp Kessler, as captured by @iMiaSanMia, Franchi could not help but bring up Musiala, who barely missed out on the award to Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham, and compare him to Aleksandar Pavlovic: “Last year, Jamal Musiala was at the top of the Golden Boy list for a long time and finished second. This time, Pavlović is an outsider. The fact that he will unfortunately not be playing for Germany at the European Championships will be a small handicap for the award.”
But that does not change the fact that he is a big fan of Pavlovic. “I love him. He’s very good. He’s a real midfielder. He has the German mentality, but his parents are from Serbia. That’s why he has the imagination in his game that characterizes the great players from the former Yugoslavia. If I had to compare him to one player, it would be [current Borussia Mönchengladbach president] Rainer Bonhof. But he was world and European champion with Germany. That’s why you can’t yet say that he will be the new Bonhof. But Pavlović can definitely become a special player.”
The second player who has worked his way up to becoming eligible for the Golden Boy award in Munich is, of course, Mathys Tel. “I like him a lot, but it’s difficult for him to find his place at Bayern. Maybe he’s putting too much pressure on himself. He’s currently 11th in the rankings, but that could change. We’re only at the beginning. The competition is fierce. Mathys is still very young and he has to fight. He has to become a regular starter to win the Golden Boy award.”
These are two talented young player who have recently extended their contract and who will play crucial roles in the future of the club. And perhaps one of them will win the Golden Boy award and finish ahead of the FC Barcelona wonderkid who is currently tearing apart nations on the footballing pitch. Well…perhaps not. But it is not as if Bayern has ever needed a Golden Boy award to know just how special the young stars at the club are.
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