Ajax defender Matthijs de Ligt has won the 2018 Golden Boy Award as the most promising Under-21 player in Europe. Why this talented superstar deserves the award? Click here to see our Scouting Report
The 19-year-old is already captain of the Ajax squad and has 13 senior caps under his belt for the Netherlands.
Tuttosport hand out the award every year with votes coming in from an international panel.
Last season, Kylian Mbappé took the trophy and went on to play a key role in France winning the 2018 World Cup.
The five finalists this year were Roma winger Justin Kluivert, Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior and Milan striker Patrick Cutrone.
De Ligt came up through the Ajax academy and has been linked with every top club in Europe, including Juventus, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.
He is already valued at well over €60m and will receive the Golden Boy title in Turin on Monday.
Matthijs de Ligt's crazy defensive skills & goals
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Casio
156
Matthijs de Ligt is the winner of the Golden Boy Award 2018. The 19-year-old is the first Dutch and Ajax player to win this prestigious price since Rafael van der Vaart in 2003.
weepring
127
Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt are waiting on Barça, and would like to continue playing together at the Camp Nou, even though they're yet to make their final decision.
fdisk
125
A young matthijs de ligt wearing a barca shirt. Destined to be...
materialism
97
Holland have "The Great Wall", not China. Cool!
PrinceParis
73
Sergio Ramos successor
RealMd13
61
Matthijs de ligt deserves the Golden boy! 2018 award cuz this young man is a heart to heart defender he is absolutely aggressive at all times and 😱😂 he is the Captain for Ajax at the age of 19 years old and I think he will make a good replacement for pique and even become better than Pique but FC Barcelona always act slow on every transfers deals! 😂😂😂
Charlescolin
54
Remind me on young Nemanja Vidic... But he need to work a lot, to be like Vidic.
Zutbcir
47
Matthias is truly an exceptional defender. Ask Kylian Mbappe how good he is? Could not get by him. Same is true for CR7. He has been helped a lot by Ajax legend Barry Hulshof, who was part of the Ajax team that won 3 Europa Cups 1 from 1971-73. As a lifelong Ajax fan since the 1960’s I feel De Ligt deserves the honor.
CityMan
47
Mbappe get golden boy award and wins World Cup. De ligt wins golden boy... UCL incoming?
Kennello
47
This man is a gem . He could succeed Gerard Pique at Barcelona or Sergio Ramos in Real Madrid . He is the future .
shariqueahmad
42
don't know about de jong but barca must buy di ligt, this stat says it all-- at the age of 19 fifa rating of :- messi-84 mbappe-82 ronaldo-86 and now De LIGT -80 being a centre back it's extraodinary rating.
twentieth
38
Barcelona has a good chance at getting De Ligt and De Jong. They sold Alcacer for 28m and Paulinho has an automatic buy 50m cause, if they sell Andre Gomes 35m, Denis Suarez 14m that's 127m euros if its true there's a deal in place for Rakitic for 95m euros then it would be very easy for Barcelona to afford the 2.