Barcelona's Spanish winger, Lamine Yamal, is the leading favorite to win the 2024 Golden Boy award, which recognizes the best player under 21 in European leagues. Yamal tops the list of 25 nominees unveiled this Thursday in Rome, with his teammate Pau Cubarsí ranking fifth.

Yamal's impact at Barcelona and with the Spanish national team, with whom he won the Euro this summer, hasn't gone unnoticed by the algorithm. For the second time in the history of the award, organized by the Italian newspaper Tuttosport, the algorithm helped form the list alongside an international jury.

Yamal was also included in last year's final 25 nominees, where England's Jude Bellingham, now at Real Madrid, won the award. Yamal was a special selection by the newspaper, along with players like Turkey's Arda Güler, who is ranked 16th this year.

This year’s special selections by the Italian paper's editorial team include Endrick (Real Madrid), Wilson Odobert (Tottenham), Eliesse Ben Seghir (Monaco), Samuel Mbangula (Juventus), and Andreas Schjelderup (Benfica).

Following closely behind Yamal are Portugal's Joao Neves (PSG), France's Warren Zaire-Emery (PSG), and Argentina's Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United).

Spanish players also make a strong showing, with Pau Cubarsí (Barcelona) in fifth place, Cristhian Mosquera (Valencia) at fifteenth, and Samuel Omorodion (Porto) rounding out the top 20.

International names in the mix include Rico Lewis (Manchester City), Pierre Zaire-Emery (PSG), Aleksandar Pavlovic (Bayern Munich), Leny Yoro, and Kobie Mainoo (Manchester United).

This 22nd edition of the award, first won by Dutch player Rafael Van der Vaart in 2003, features the "Golden Boy Index," an algorithm that factors in playing time, performance, club, national team appearances, and European competitions to generate the rankings. This tool was developed in collaboration with Football Benchmark, the data and analytics partner for the award, and aims to function like a football ranking system combining elements of the ATP ranking and a stock index.

The winner will be announced on December 16 in Turin, inheriting the prize won last year by Jude Bellingham, who followed Barcelona players Gavi in 2022 and Pedri in 2021.

Lamine Yamal, if he wins, would be the fourth La Liga player to receive the prestigious award for under-21 footballers.

The unveiling gala featured special guests, including former Porto coach and ex-player of Lazio and Inter Milan, Sergio Conceição, as well as Andrea Soncin, Italy women's team coach, Italian former footballer Massimo Mauro, and Brazilian Thiago Scuro, AS Monaco’s sporting director.