Flying Eagles Captain & NFF Target Bennetts Nominated For Golden Boy Award; Chukwueze Snubbed

Published: June 15, 2019

Flying Eagles captain Ikouwem Udo Utin has been nominated for the 2019 Golden Boy, an award handed out to the best U21 player in European football.

Borussia Monchengladbach starlet Keanan Bennetts is the other Nigeria-eligible player included on the long list of 100 nominees for the 2019 title.

Villarreal's Samuel Chukwueze, who turned 20 last month, Manchester City's Tom Dele-Bashiru, Chelsea teen sensation Faustino Anjorin and Arsenal midfielder Miguel Azeez are not among the talented players chosen by Italian newspaper Tuttosport.

Utin was one of the most promising youngsters in Nigeria before agreeing a deal with Maccabi Haifa just before the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup and was included in the Team of the Tournament for the U20 AFCON.

The former Enyimba left back made his debut for the Super Eagles A team in a friendly against Egypt in March and was named on the standby list for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Keanan Bennetts was approached by the Nigerian Federation to represent the country at the U20 World Cup but did not attend the training camp because he had just returned from injury and wanted to concentrate on his career with Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Capable of playing as a left winger, left midfielder, playmaker, central midfielder and left back, he turned out for Tottenham Hotspur's youth teams before joining Borussia Mönchengladbach in the summer of 2018.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel