Marcus Rashford, Dele Alli and Alex Iwobi short listed for prestigious Golden Boy award

Manchester United's Anthony Martial crowned with 2015 Golden Boy award [PHOTO: COURTESY]

Marcus Rashford, Dele Alli and Alex Iwobi have been shortlisted for the 2016 Golden Boy, the award given for the most outstanding young player in European football.

Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Liverpool's Marko Grujic and Manchester City's Kelechi Iheanacho and Leroy Sane are also named for the award founded by Italian newspaper Tuttosport in 2003, with Anthony Martial last year's winner.

Previous winners include Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero, while Raheem Sterling and Paul Pogba have also claimed the award.

Other notable names include Milan's Gianluigi Donnarumma, Borussia Dortmund's Ousmane Dembele and Bayern Munich's Kingsley Coman and Renato Sanches.

More Premier League interest comes in the form of Leicester's Demarai Gray, Chelsea's Andreas Christensen Nathan, on loan at Vitesse, and City' Olivier Ntcham, on loan at Genoa.

“I think Marcus Rashford should be selected for the senior squad next week and be unleashed against Malta,” Ferdinand wrote in his Evening Standard column this week.

“Including his hat-trick for the U21s against Norway earlier this month, no English striker has scored more goals since he made his professional debut in February.

“I don’t care how old you are, that record warrants a place in the squad. He has been the best striker in this country since February in terms of output – the statistics don’t lie.”