The shortlist for the 2026 Golden Boy award is in, with eight Premier League stars included.

The esteemed award is regarded as a strong indicator of who's ready to graduate to the upper echelons of the game.

The honour is given to the player who's made the biggest impact and is under the age of 21.

That means only players born after 2006 are eligible for the gong this year.

Representing the Premier League are: Chelsea's Estevao and Jorrel Hato; Eli Junior Kroupi and Rayan, both of Bournemouth; Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly; and Brighton's Luka Vuskovic and Charalampos Kostoulas.

Manchester City's Ayyoub Bouaddi completes the list.

They will face fierce competition from past winner Lamine Yamal, new £120m Real Madrid signing Yan Diomande and PSG star Warren Zaire-Emery, among others.

A host of European journalists will now vote on the next big thing in football, with the ceremony to crown the winner taking place on December 16 in Turin, Italy.

However, the award is by no means a guarantee of success .

Here, we take a look at every Golden Boy recipient since the honour was created in 2023.

While some winners have gone on to hit great heights, there are one or two others who have struggled to live up to the hype.

The Dutch star won the award while playing for Ajax at 20.

Moves to Hamburg, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur followed, but it could be argued he never fully lived up to his true potential.

He now works as a pundit after retiring in 2019.

Rooney took the honour shortly after moving from Everton to Manchester United for £30million.

Five league titles, a Champions League , FA Cup , three League Cups and the Europa League followed for the man who became United's all-time top scorer and an England legend.

What is there to say? Arguably, the greatest footballer of all time took the award in 2005.

Ten La Liga titles, four Champions Leagues, two Ligue 1 championships, eight Ballons d’Or and a World Cup followed.

The Argentine now plays for Inter Miami at 39 but has retired from the international game.

The Spaniard was a major player for Arsenal and carried on his form after moving to Barcelona in 2011.

He won the World Cup and two European Championships with his country, and secured league titles with Barca and Chelsea .

He is now the manager of Serie A side Como.

After winning the award at Atletico Madrid, the Argentine signed for Manchester City in 2011 and scored 260 goals in 390 games for City, winning five Premier League titles, an FA Cup and six League Cups.

Brazilian midfielder Anderson had arrived at United after spells with Gremio and Porto when he won the award.

He helped United to four League titles, the Champions League and a League Cup during his eight years at Old Trafford.

He struggled for form and retired in 2019 after stints in Brazil and Turkey.

Pato won the Golden Boy award while featuring for AC Milan.

The Brazilian forward looked destined for the top until injuries took their toll.

Spells in Brazil, a brief stint at Chelsea and time in Spain followed but he retired in 2023 with a Serie A title, a Club World Cup and Italian Super Cup to his name.

The enigmatic star had already played 86 games for Inter Milan, winning three Serie A titles and the Champions League when he took the award.

He's had stints at Man City, Liverpool and....