Not Lamine Yamal: Barcelona wonderkid set to battle PSG’s Desire Doue for Golden Boy award

With the 2024–25 season in the books and teams already returning to training, the spotlight shifts to individual honors — including the highly anticipated 2025 Golden Boy award. While Lamine Yamal is no longer in the running, another FC Barcelona wonderkid is set to compete for the title against Paris Saint-Germain’s rising star Desire Doue.

Barcelona and PSG were arguably the two most dominant clubs of the 2024–25 campaign. Under new manager Hansi Flick, Barca played some of the most exciting soccer in Europe, winning a domestic treble that included two final victories over rivals Real Madrid. Key players like Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, and Yamal all played starring roles.

PSG, meanwhile, flourished in their first season post-Kylian Mbappe, capturing an unprecedented haul: Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, Trophée des Champions, and the long-elusive UEFA Champions League in a historic final win over Inter Milan. With an average squad age of 25.2, veterans like Ousmane Dembele, Marquinhos, and Gianluigi Donnarumma anchored the team, while emerging talents like Doue and Joao Neves made headlines.

In the latest update of the Golden Boy Football Benchmark (GBFB) index, Lamine Yamal still leads with a rating of 97.9, followed by Doue at 95.3, and Barcelona’s Pau Cubarsi at 95.0. The 18-year-old defender became a first-team regular under Flick and is now considered one of the favorites to win the prestigious award.

The GBFB index measures player performance between October 7, 2024, and July 13, 2025. Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly (87.9), PSG’s Warren Zaïre-Emery (87.4), and Real Madrid’s Dean Huijsen (85.5) round out the top contenders — but with a clear gap between Cubarsi and Doue, the battle for the 2025 Golden Boy appears to be a two-horse race.

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Why is Lamine Yamal out of the running for the Golden Boy award?

Despite a sensational 2024–25 season, Lamine Yamal — the top-ranked player in the Golden Boy index — is ineligible to win the award again. He is also among the leading Ballon d’Or candidates, alongside PSG’s Ousmane Dembele, making his exclusion from Golden Boy all the more puzzling for fans.

However, according to Tuttosport, the Italian magazine that organizes the award, players can only win the Golden Boy once. Yamal took home the honor in 2024, becoming the youngest player ever to do so. As a result, despite meeting all other criteria — being under 21 and playing in a top-tier European league — he cannot be considered for the 2025 edition.