How Pedri won the 2021 Golden Boy Award

Pedri has claimed the 2021 European Golden Boy award after an excellent 12 months for both club and country.

The 18-year-old emerged victorious when the Italian publication, Tuttosport, crowned him Europe’s best young player. After securing 24 of the 40 first-place votes, Pedri romped home to finish on 318 points. His closest rival, Jude Bellingham, received a comparatively small number of 119 points from the panel of journalists.

The Barcelona star now has a place amongst an esteemed line-up of footballing greats. Other winners include Wayne Rooney (2004), Lionel Messi (2005), Sergio Aguero (2007), Paul Pogba (2013), Raheem Sterling (2014) and Kylian Mbappe (2018).

Read: The winners of football’s Golden Boy award.

How has Pedri performed for club and country so far?

In the 2020-21 campaign, Pedri scored three goals in 37 league appearances for Barcelona. The midfielder also impressed at Euro 2020, where he became the youngest player ever to represent Spain at the tournament. He played for his country six times with an incredible pass rate of 91.6 per cent, as per WhoScored.

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Experts rated the midfielder’s performances highly – they voted him the Young Player of the Tournament. The youngest footballer to have ever featured in the Euro knockout stages was also the only representative of his country to make the Team of the Tournament.

Read: Pedri looks completely different after playing 72 games in a single season.

Following his impressive run in the Euros, Spain called on Pedri to represent his country at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. His side made it to the final, losing 2-1 against Brazil.

If Pedri can go on to reach the heights of previous Golden Boy Award winners, then the ceiling for his future success is sky-high. The midfielder has just signed a contract extension at Barcelona, which will run until 2026. Therefore, fans at the Nou Camp will surely be dazzled by his blistering performances for many years to come.

Featured Image Credit: Getty

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