by Massimo Franchi
Interview with Philipp Kessler, German journalist for the Tages Zeitung Gand a member of the international jury for the European Golden Boy
The list of 100 nominees for the 2026 Golden Boy award has been announced: which players from your country (born on or after 1 January 2006) did you expect to see on the list, and why?
-Lennart Karl (2008): Lennart was always the best with the ball. He has extremely good technique/ball control and incredibly high creativity and game intelligence. Even as a small child, his left foot was exceptional. Lennart primarily needed to work on his work off the ball and his intensity. It was important for him to learn to play at his limit for an entire match. Which he did. He adapts very quickly. He made the move to the FC Bayern Campus for the U15 team. Last season he was playing for the U17 of the club. After the injury of Jamal Musiala, he became a regular starter at Bayern – because Vincent Kompany believed in him. At the Campus he wasn’t ranked as the top talent of his age group, he was ranked behind Wisdom Mike e.g. because he is not as fast as him… Karl – not only Bayern’s biggest talent but also one of the biggest talents in Europe right now. Managed by Michael Ballack. - Assan Ouédraogo (2006): A player with huge talent level and skillset. He is tall but quick, has great technique and game insight. He can play central midfield box to box and is a player similar to Jude Bellingham. - Linus Güther (2010): the biggest talent age group 2010 in Germany. Scouts describe his profile as a hybrid of Florian Wirtz and Michael Olise. He has great acceleration, has a fantastic dribbling and can score with a hard and precise shot. Very strong standards and he can play the final and deadly pass. Strong with both feet and very high intensity against the ball. With 15 years he is already training with the first team of Union Berlin and there are chances that he could become the youngest Bundesliga Player in history in April. He wanted to stay in his home region (he played for Energie Cottbus) and dropped offers from Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen and went to Union Berlin last summer. Definitely a huge talent to watch which you should feature in the future on your Golden Boy list. - Kenneth Eichhorn (2009): Boss in the midfield of Hertha BSC. High playing intelligence, very calm with the ball. Mature for his young age. He dictates the tempo of the match. Not only on the list of FC Bayern. - Said El Mala (2006): Great dribbling, good finishing, also quick. Physically very good. New prince of Cologne.
Among your preferred players (pending of course the European Cups and World Cup finals in addition to the first part of the next season), is there anyone who you think deserves more than the others to win or to go very hight in the 24th edition of the trophy reserved for the best Under-21 player of the year? I am a big fan of Luka Vuskovic. At the age of only 19 years – even when he was 18 – he is the leader of Hamburg. Dangerous in front of the goal, very strong defensively and with the head. Outstanding player. For me it is even more impressive to stand out as a defender at young age than to score a few goals as offensive talent. Because as a defender you cannot make mistakes without consequences. It’s no coincidence that he is on the list of every top club in Europe. I am sure that he won’t play a single match for Tottenham. But if you ask me about a German player – then I would rank Karl first.
(Lennart Karl was included in the squad list for the World Cup but was unable to take part due to an injury suffered in a friendly match, ed.) In your country, at the level of sports institutions (for example, in the Football Federation, in the Youth and School Sector, in professional and amateur leagues, in the Olympic Committee itself, etc.), have there been investments in recent years to further improve grassroots football and attract more and more young people to football? “FUNiño”, the Horst Wein Method: The youngest players now play three against three – sometimes even on four goals – instead of seven against seven as before. The aim is more fun and playing experience for everyone. Since last season, the new concept has been mandatory nationwide – as stipulated by the German Football Association (DFB). The goal is for the players to have many contacts, many actions in the game, and each to play the same number of minutes. Every kid should be involved and not feel discouraged. There is no table. The 36 professional clubs in Germany have decided to introduce their own U21 league starting in the 2026/27 season. This is intended to further professionalize talent development in German football. The new competition is a voluntary, additional offering for all Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga clubs. Participation is intended for players in the transitional phase of the U17 to U21 age groups. It’s a similar concept to the Premier League 2. And at club level? Have any professional or amateur clubs recently stood out for implementing their youth sector and recruiting future talent, perhaps by building new sports centers specifically for children or with special and noteworthy initiatives to convince parents to enroll their children?
Many teams invest in their youth academies because they know it’s the only way to compete with the top clubs, both nationally and internationally. FC Bayern, for example, has the Skills.Lab to improve players’ skills with exercises that also challenge the brain. In addition, some clubs have the famous Footbonaut, a cage-like training device that trains technique, passing accuracy, reaction speed, and cognitive skills through targeted ball feeds from eight machines. Furthermore, the DFB Academy offers neurocentric training. In this approach, the brain and nervous system are integrated into the training as central elements of movement control. Neurocentric training promotes performance and therefore helps with injury prevention and rehabilitation. Jamal Musiala was training with this approach for many years for example.
Established in 2003, Golden Boy will celebrate its first “jubilee” next year (2027), marking a quarter of a century of existence. Can you take stock of this period, in your opinion, how the Award has eventually progressed, its international impact, in terms of media coverage, the appeal it holds for players and insiders, experts, professionals, as well as the interest it generates among fans and readers?
The Golden Boy is a very prestigious award. It’s exciting because it’s about future superstars, players who are already outstanding but still have room to develop. I remember when Mario Götze won the award in 2011. That was a huge topic in Germany. The same was true in 2016 when Bayern Munich signed Golden Boy Renato Sanches. Most recently, the award generated a lot of buzz in Germany when Jamal Musiala competed with Jude Bellingham for it in 2023. There’s so much potential, in my opinion, to make the already outstanding Golden Boy even bigger.
