On Monday, the organisers of the famous Ballon d'Or released a 10 man shortlist for the second edition of the Kopa Award and although it looks like there is stiff competition, however, I feel the winner is very obvious and maybe, easy to select.

The organisers launched the award last year, naming it after French footballer, Raymond Kopa, to reward players who are under the age of 21 and are doing great things on the pitch. The inaugural edition was undoubtedly won by the standout last year, Paris Saint-Germain and World Cup winner, Kylian Mbappe, following his exploits with Monaco. The winner of the award would be selected by former Ballon d'Or winners.

Below is the shortlist

1. Matthijs de Ligt (Former Ajax/ Now Juventus/ Netherlands): Top favourite for the award, Making 77 appearances and scoring 8 goals last term, the Dutch international was in exceptional form last season. At 19, he captained the surprising Ajax side to many wonders both home and abroad. He led the team to a domestic double in the Eredivise; won the Golden Boy Award in December 2018, becoming the first defender to do so; and also led Ajax to the semifinal of the Champions League where they narrowly lost out to Tottenham. He finally moved to Italy with Juventus in the summer after been previously strongly linked to Barcelona.

2. Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid/ Brazil): Signed for Madrid from Flamengo in the Brazilain League wit a lot of expectations and prospects and although he has not really lived up to expectations, he has shown glimpses of what the potential he possessed. He has scored 7 goals in 29 appearances for both Real Madrid and Madrid Castilla sides, combined.

3. Joao Felix (Former Benfica/ Now Atletico Madrid/ Portugal): The 19-year old Portugal international has been beaming with a lot of promise. very impressively getting promoted to Benfica's first team at the age of 18, he went on to score 15 goals in 26 appearances for the Portuguese giants. he became the second-highest transferred teenager after PSG's Kylian Mbappe when he signed for Atletico Madrid in a deal worth£113 million.

4. Andriy Lunin: (On loan to Real Valladolid from Real Madrid/ Ukraine): The 20-year-old fierce-looking shot-stopper is a prospect to watch out for in few years to come. He starred for Ukraine at the FIFA U20 World Cup earlier this year, playing in 6 out of the 7 games.

5. Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund/ England): Deemed not good enough for Manchester City in 2017, Sancho went to the Bundesliga and immediately setting the League on fire with his stylish display which earned him his first callup to the England national team in October 2018, for whom he has netted twice in 10 appearances. While continuing huis blistering form for Dortmund, he has scored 16 goals in 53 appearances.

6. Samuel Chukwueze (Villareal/ Nigeria): The Nigerian wonderkid was in the form of his life last season for Villareal, causing troubles for teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga. His sterling outings earned him a place in the bronze-winning team of the Super Eagles of Nigeria at the 2019 Afican Cup of Nations held in Cameroon. He has scored 6 times in 27 appearances for the Villareal senior side since making the breakthrough in 2018.

7. Moise Kean (Former Juventus/ Now Everton/ Italy): The young Italian striker who was very notable for his cameo perfomances towards the end of last term, coming to the party to salvage victories for Juventus, especially when CR7 was either missing or missing his form. Moved to Everton in the summer, altough is yet to find the back of the net in the Premier League.

8. Matteo Guendozi (Arsenal/ France): The French sensation broke into limelight last summer when Arsenal snapped him up from Ligue 2 side, Lorient. At 19, he has established himself as one of the lifelines of Arsenal since his arrival under coach Unai Emery. His impressive outings, firing box-to-box has earned him his first international call-up to the Les Blues, altough he is yet to take his bow.

9. Kai Havertz ( Bayer Leverkusen/ Germany): having made his debut for Bayer Leverkusen in October 2016, the 20-year-old went ahead to amass 50 appearances by April 2018, becoming the youngest player in the club's history to hit such feat. His impressive form earned him a call up to Germany's squad for the UEFA Nations League match against France and he made his senior debut against Peru in September 2018. Currently, he is the second-youngest player to have scored 25 Bundesliga goals.

10. Kang-in Lee (Valencia/ South Korea): the highlight of Kan-in Lee's career came earlier this year when his impressive performance helped South Korea to a second-place finish at the FIFA U20 World Cup, His 2 goals and 4 assists in 7 World Cup matches were enough to earn him the Golden Ball Award. Having joined Valencia in 2011 as a 10-year old, Lee made his senior bow for Valencia against Madrid in the 1-1 draw in March 2019. the 18-year old is also the youngest ever South Korean player to have debuted as a professional in Europe.

**MY OPINION**

While all the finalists are good in their own right, I believe this is one that would be an easy call for the deciders. Former Ajax defender, Matthijs de Ligt stands tall and ahead of any of the other contestants and I believe he would cart home the award. I just hope we would not be a repeat of the 2010 awards, where the glaring favourite, Wesley Sneijder, then of Inter Milan was robbed in daylight, with the award controversially given to Lionel Messi. I strongly doubt that can happen this time around.

**What's Your Take? Who would win?**