RASHFORD, IHEANACHO AND IWOBI AMONG GOLDEN BOY AWARD NOMINEES

Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford is in contention to win the 2016 Golden Boy award following a serious of impressive performances for his club.

Among the players competing with Rashford for the accolade are Arsenal's Alex Iwobi, Tottenham Hotspur's Dele Alli, Bayern Munich pair Kingsley Coman and Renato Sanches, Manchester City duo Kelechi Iheanacho and Leroy Sane, Liverpool's Marko Grujic and Borussia Dortmund's Ousmane Dembele.

Rashford, 18, has scored eight goals in 15 Premier League appearances for United since making his debut in February.

The England international is one of 40 names in contention for the Golden Boy prize, which was established by Tuttosport in 2003 and is voted for by journalists from 30 European newspapers. All nominees must be under 21, play in the top tier in a European league and can only be included if they haven't won before. 

United's Anthony Martial won the award last year, while previous winners include Raheem Sterling (2014), Paul Pogba (2013), Mario Balotelli (2010) and Lionel Messi (2005).

Full list of the 40 Golden Boy nominees for 2016:

Dele Alli (Tottenham), Marco Asensio (Real Madrid), Leon Bailey (Racing Genk), Riechedly Bazoer (Ajax), Gabriel Boschilia (Monaco), Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Andreas Christensen (Borussia Monchengladbach, on loan from Chelsea), Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich, on loan from Juventus), Ante Coric (Dinamo Zagreb), Amadou Diawara (Napoli), Mahmoud Dahoud (Gladbach), Danilo (Benfica), Moussa Dembele (Celtic), Ousmane Dembele (Borussia Dortmund) Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan), Breel Ambolo (Schalke), Carlos Fernandez (Sevilla), Gabigol (Inter), Aleksandr Golovin (CSKA Moscow), Demarai Gray (Leicester City), Marko Gruijic (Liverpool), Goncalo Guedes (Benfica), Alen Halilovic (Hamburg), Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City), Alex Iwobi (Arsenal), Viktor Kovalenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), Emanuel Mammana (Lyon), Nathan (Vitesse, on loan from Chelsea), Ruben Neves (Porto), Jules Ntcham (Genoa), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich), Jairo Riedewald (Ajax), Antonio Sarabria (Real Betis), Leroy Sane (Manchester City), Jonathan Tah (Leverkusen), Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht), Almamy Toure (Monaco).