Diverse fortunes of football Golden boys part 1

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The Golden boy award has been awarded to the best young footballers since 2003. 

Many of them has gone on to become real icons, won many trophies and lived up to the golden boy statues in the eyes of the fans but many have fallen by the way side and unable to reach their potentials for one reason or the other.

Let's take a look at the diverse fortunes of the Golden boys of the round leather game.

1.Rafael van der Vaart 2003

He was the first winner of the Golden boy award after an impressive 18 goals in 21 games at the Eredivisie in the colours of Ajax in 2002/2003 season. 

He moved on to Real Madrid where he spent two unsuccessful seasons before going to Tottenham where he formed a formidable partnership with Peter Crouch, scoring 24 goals and recorded 15 assists in a relatively moderate two seasons before moving to Hamburg, then Denmark where he retired in November, 2018.


2. Wayne Rooney 2004

After a breakthrough season at Everton where he scored nine goals, he was signed up by Manchester United in 2004, where he spent a successful 13 years spell winning five premier league titles, one FA cup, four League cups and one Champions League, as well as amassing 253 goals in 559 appearances.


3. Lionel Messi 2005

The Argentine won the 2005 Golden boy after a breakthrough season at Barcelona, a club he has remained with to date. 

He has scored 640 career goals and has 140 international caps for Argentina, scoring 71 times. Messi has been awarded the Ballon d’Or six times, more than any other player in history. He was also named the best player in the world four years in a row from 2009 to 2012.

He is the record scorer for Barcelona, the Argentina national team, and La Liga.

In 2012, he broke Gerd Muller’s record for the most goals in a calendar year with 91.

He has won 10 La Liga titles, six Spanish Cups, and four Champions Leagues.

His fans believes he's the greatest of all time.


4. Cesc Fabrigas 2006

The La Mesia graduate won the Golden boy award after breaking into Arsenal's first team and taking over the central midfield and subsequently driving the club to the Champions League finals in 2006 which they lost to Barcelona.

He won two Premier League titles, including an 18-assist season in 2014/15 under Jose Mourinho, before leaving for Monaco in 2018.

Internationally, he has 115 caps, has won two European Championships (2008 and 2012) and a World Cup in 2010.


5. Kun Aguero 2007

The ferocious Argentine won the golden boy after an amazing breakthrough season at Atletico Madrid where he scored 19 goals at just 19. 

He went on to stay for two more seasons, scoring 21 and 27 goals in the process.

Aguero has since broken the goal scoring record at City since his move from the Spanish capital with 255 goals in all competition. 

He has also amassed four premier league titles, five league cups,one FA cup and a Europa league title with Atletico Madrid. He is equally decorated with two under 20 world cups and an olympic gold medal.


6. Anderson 2008

The Brazilian had an impressive breakout season at Manchester United in 2007/2008 season with a good 38 appearances and that gave him the Golden Boy award. 

That was the last season he played more than 19 games for the club until his eventual departure.

During his time at United, he won four Premier League titles, a Champions League, and two League Cups, but departed in 2015 and joined Brazilian side Internacional.

He made 88 appearances in two years for the club, but in 2017 joined Coritiba before returning to Europe with Turkish side Adana Demirspor.

He retired in September 2019 aged just 31 and is now an assistant coach with Demirspor.


7. Alexander Pato

He was phenomenal and inspirational in his early days, netting 27 goals across 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 seasons consecutively, thereby raising the appetite of football enthusiasts around the globe as the new Brazilian goal poacher and won the Golden boy award following those exploits.

He was never to leave up to those potentials and fell by the way side.

In 2013 he left AC Milan and returned to Corinthians. During his time at AC Milan, after the breakthrough seasons, he never scored more than five goals a season.

He spent three years at Corinthians, scoring 33 goals.

On loan at Chelsea in the 2015/16 season, he played two games, scoring once during this time before moving to Villareal, where he stayed one season before transferring to China.

In two seasons in the Far East, he scored 30 goals in 37 games.

Pato returned to Brazil in 2019 with Sao Paulo, but agreed to terminate his contract in August and is currently without a club.






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