Three Chelsea youngsters named to 2016 Golden Boy 40-man shortlist

The 40-man shortlist for the 2016 Golden Boy award was revealed today by Italian newspaper Tuttosport, and it should be no surprise to us that some of Chelsea's best young talents are included. The Chelsea names chosen by sports journalist from all corners of Europe include Andreas Christensen (currently on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach), Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Nathan (now at Vitesse).

The award was created in 2003 by Tuttosport, and it's given to the best footballer in Europe under the age of 21 across a calendar year. Previous holders of the award include Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, Barcelona's Lionel Messi and current Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fàbregas, who won the title while at Arsenal.

The full-list is as follows:

English Premier League: Leroy Sane (Manchester City), Dele Alli (Tottenham), Demarai Gray (Leicester), Marko Grujic (Liverpool), Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City), Alex Iwobi (Arsenal), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United).

Spanish La Liga: Marco Asensio (Real Madrid), Carlos Fernandez (Sevilla), Lucas Hernández (Atletico Madrid), Tonny Sanabria (Real Betis).

German Bundesliga: Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Andreas Christensen (Borussia Monchengladbach), Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Mahmoud Dahoud (Borussia Monchengladbach), Ousmane Dembele (Borussia Dortmund), Breel Embolo (Schalke), Alen Halilovic (Hamburg), Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen).

Italian Serie A: Amadou Diawara (Napoli), Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan), Gabriel Barbosa (Inter Milan), Olivier Ntcham (Genoa).

French Ligue 1: Gabriel Boschilia (Monaco), Emmanuel Mammana (Lyon), Almamy Touré (Monaco).

Dutch Eredivisie: Riechedley Bazoer (Ajax), Nathan (Vitesse), Jairo Riedewald (Ajax)

Portuguese Primeira Liga: Gonçalo Guedes (Benfica), Ruben Neves (Porto), Danilo Barbosa (Benfica)

Russian Premier League: Aleksandr Golovin (CSKA Moscow).

Belgian Jupiler Pro league: Leon Bailey (Gent), Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht).

Ukrainian Premier League: Viktor Kovalenko (Shakhtar Donetsk)

Scottish Premier League: Moussa Dembele (Celtic).

Croatian Prva Liga: Ante Coric (Dinamo Zagreb).

-source: 101 Great Goals