Giovanni Leoni award nod shows Liverpool got £26m bargain

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Giovanni Leoni has been named on the 25-man shortlist for this year’s Golden Boy award, with Liverpool’s £26 million deal to sign him regarded as a relative bargain. Liverpool beat the likes of Man United, Inter Milan and Newcastle to sign Leoni in mid-August, with suggestions of a loan back to Parma quickly dismissed.

Tuttosport announced the centre-back as a wild-card pick among their 25 nominees for the 2025 Golden Boy award. Leoni signed for less than half Yoro’s fee Paris Saint-Germain’s Desire Doue is considered the favourite but Leoni’s inclusion, as one of only two Italians and one of five hand-picked by judges, is still significant.

Man United‘s Leny Yoro, 19, Chelsea‘s Jorrel Hato, 19, and Real Madrid‘s Dean Huijsen, 20, are also nominated but recently joined their clubs for fees of £58.9 million, £37 million and £50 million respectively. 2025 Golden Boy nominees Eliesse Ben Seghir – Bayer Leverkusen Jobe Bellingham – Dortmund Lucas Bergvall – Tottenham Pau Cubarsi – Barcelona Desire Doue – Paris Saint-Germain Francesco Pio Esposito – Inter Milan Estevao – Chelsea Victor Froholdt – Porto Archie Gray – Tottenham Arda Guler – Real Madrid Jorrel Hato – Chelsea Dean Huijsen – Real Madrid Giovanni Leoni – Liverpool Myles Lewis-Skelly – Arsenal Franco Mastantuono – Real Madrid Senny Mayulu – Paris Saint-Germain Rodrigo Mora – Porto Ethan Nwaneri – Arsenal Nico O’Reilly – Man City Geovany Quenda – Sporting CP Mamadou Sarr – Strasbourg Aleksandar Stankovic – Club Brugge Kenan Yildiz – Juventus Leny Yoro – Man United Warren Zaire-Emery – Paris Saint-Germain