Zaire-Emery only PSG nomination as Golden Boy award nominees revealed

The Golden Boy award nominees have been announced, with 25 players aged 21 or younger being included in the long list for the awards, which will be handed out on the same night as the Ballon d’Or. Some big names are nominated such as Chelsea’s Estevao Willian, Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly, and the man who is perhaps the favourite for the award after his stellar performances at this summer’s World Cup, Pau Cubarsi from Barcelona.

The only PSG player on the list is Warren Zaire-Emery, who returned to brilliant form last season, showcasing his versatility by playing in numerous positions, and proving to be a key part of Luis Enrique’s system. Zaire-Emery had been struggling to get into the team in the 2024-25 season, with PSG’s midfield three of Joao Neves, Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz seeming fairly immovable, but an injury to Achraf Hakimi at the start of the 25-26 season led to the young Frenchman getting a chance in the Right-back position, from which he has never truly looked back and established himself as a key component of PSG’s first team.

However, Zaire-Emery is the only member of the PSG squad who appears on this shortlist, with Desiré Doué, perhaps the most obvious candidate, being ineligible after already winning last year’s award (Lamine Yamal is also ineligible after his win in 2024). Other young PSG or former PSG players like Senny Mayulu and Ibrahim Mbaye didn’t make the list either, despite having relatively impressive breakout seasons in Ligue 1.

PSG have only ever had two players win the award, last year with Doué and all the way back in 2017 when Kylian Mbappé was elected Golden Boy shortly after his move from Monaco. Since the award has been inaugurated in 2003, four French players have been victorious: with the aforementioned two PSG stars being joined by Paul Pogba (2013) and Anthony Martial (2015) in what is a very exclusive club. The young Parisian could join these players were he to pull off an unlikely victory in the award, although the likely victor remains Cubarsi, particularly after winning the young player of the tournament award at the World Cup, in which his Spanish side cruised to a comfortable victory.

Zaire-Emery does have a strong case, however, having made more than 50 appearances across different positions in all competitions for his side who went on to retain the Champions League, scoring three and assisting six in the process.

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