The Golden Boy award once again gathers a wide field of candidates. Past winners include Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland and Lamine Yamal, and the 2025 list contains a mix of established youngsters and fresh faces who have made notable moves or produced important minutes.

Warren Zaïre-Emery: A breakout figure across 2023–24, he made 32 starts for Paris Saint-Germain in a season that delivered four major pieces of silverware. Despite that, his minutes in the Champions League were limited as Luis Enrique favoured a midfield trio of Vitinha, João Neves and Fabián Ruíz. Zaïre-Emery finished 2024–25 with five goal contributions.

Franco Mastantuono: The young Argentine earned a reputation at River Plate and moved to Real Madrid in the summer. Mastantuono shone at the Club World Cup and Xabi Alonso entrusted the creative teenager with significant responsibility on arrival in Madrid.

Ethan Nwaneri: Called upon amid Arsenal injury problems, Nwaneri stepped in at the turn of the year. The Premier League’s youngest-ever player in 2022 delivered key performances in victories over Leicester City, PSV Eindhoven and Manchester City, operating off the right or infield.

Arda Güler: Carlo Ancelotti gave him only rare chances, but after impressing at the Club World Cup Xabi Alonso has made Güler a regular in the Madrid midfield. He is a versatile playmaker brought in to help replace the control lost with the retirements and departures of senior midfield figures.

Myles Lewis-Skelly: The Hale End graduate emerged as Arsenal’s breakout late in 2024, displacing Riccardo Calafiori and earning an England call-up in March, when he scored on his debut. His strength and fit for an inverted role helped his rise.

Estêvão: Seen on social clips and at the Club World Cup, the Brazilian agreed to join Chelsea after the tournament. He finished fourth in the 2025 Kopa Trophy and opened his Stamford Bridge account with a late strike that beat Liverpool before the October international break.

Dean Huijsen: After Bournemouth accepted Juventus’s offer, Real Madrid paid £50 million ($66.5 million) a year later. Huijsen was one of the Premier League’s standout defenders for the Cherries, though his early Madrid spell included two harsh red cards.

Pau Cubarsí: Barcelona’s defender finished seventh in the Kopa Trophy. He played a key part in a side that won three pieces of silverware and nearly reached the Champions League final, forming a strong partnership with Iñigo Martínez.

Kenan Yıldız: After his 2023–24 breakthrough, Yıldız was given Juventus’s No. 10 shirt and delivered consistent performances down Juve’s left flank, with several notable contributions coming in 2024.

Gameweek 9 offers few standout heavyweight clashes, which can make it an ideal week for FPL managers hunting steady returns. Below are considered selections drawn from the current form and fixtures ahead of the Oct. 24 deadline.

Goalkeepers: David Raya (£5.7m) is highlighted for clean sheet potential after conceding just three times in all competitions this season and is described as a set-and-forget option. Nick Pope (£5.2m) sits as FPL’s second-highest scoring goalkeeper through the opening eight rounds and has kept three clean sheets in his last four matches in all competitions, with Newcastle hosting Fulham on Saturday. Robert Sánchez (£4.9m) is the cheaper alternative; he will be aiming for a shutout at home to Sunderland, who have scored in only one of their four away games.

Defenders: Marc Cucurella (£6.1m) offers attacking and defensive upside, having delivered 15 points across his past two matches and creating 11 chances for Chelsea this term. Gabriel (£6.4m) is the leading defensive candidate, having provided more points than any other defender this term and 45 in his last five Premier League matches. Marcos Senesi (£5.0m) is the obvious Bournemouth route into defence at home to Nottingham Forest, with 48 points this term. Dan Burn (£5.1m), Kieran Trippier (£5.0m) and Joe Rodon (£4.1m) are also noted as solid defensive choices.

Midfield and attack: Antoine Semenyo (£8.1m) has outscored other midfielders by 24 points and is a must-have at home to Forest, having produced five-plus points in all his home games. Declan Rice (£6.6m) could benefit from Arsenal’s set-piece threat at home to Palace. Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) remains a reliable long-term option despite fitness setbacks.

Forwards: Erling Haaland (£14.7m) remains a must-have after 11 goals in eight league games and is primed to score as Manchester City visit Aston Villa. Cody Gakpo (£7.5m) has scored in his past five matches for club and country and faces Brentford. Igor Thiago (£6.1m) is a budget gamble after five league goals in eight matches.

Reminder: The Gameweek 9 deadline is 6:30 p.m. BST (1:30 p.m. ET, 10:30 a.m. PT) on Oct. 24.

Arsenal have moved to formalise the next stage in Max Dowman’s pathway after the teenage midfielder made his senior debut in August, aged just 15. Until now Dowman has been on schoolboy terms, a status that left him theoretically free to join another club while interest reportedly came from “many of the world’s leading teams”.

The Athletic has reported that Dowman is “determined” to continue his career with Arsenal. Conversations over the next step were handled by his father and, according to the report, an agreement is in place to upgrade him to scholarship terms. That scholarship status is the step before a first professional contract and is described as “being finalised”.

The scholarship would lock Dowman in for up to two years. Arsenal will also be able to offer a professional contract as soon as January. Those professional terms would not formally take effect until January 2027 but can be negotiated and pre-agreed from when Dowman, born on December 31, 2009, turns 16.

The club’s willingness to integrate very young players gives context to the decision. Mikel Arteta has a track record of trusting youngsters if he believes they are ready, previously handing a derby to Nwaneri in 2022 and overseeing the development of Bukayo Saka and Myles Lewis-Skelly.

When Dowman made his debut, Arteta said it was “clear” that the rest of the squad already have a positive opinion about him—”…because they kept on passing him the ball”. The manager added: “It is great to be able to change the energy in the stadium by bringing him in and he had an impact. He won a penalty on his debut at the Emirates. That’s incredible.”

For now the formal move to scholarship terms provides Arsenal with a contractual bridge between schoolboy status and a first professional deal, while securing the club’s options as the youngster approaches the eligibility threshold for professional terms.