Messi, Haaland, Pato: What happened to every Golden Boy winner since 2003?

The Golden Boy award has a rich history of predicting football’s biggest future superstars.

Since the awards inception in 2003, the coveted prize that’s dished out to the best player in the world under the age of 21 has been granted to many iconic names.

Lionel Messi took home the prize in 2005, for example, whilst Kylian Mbappe won in 2017.

But for all the successes the esteemed journalists from across Europe have had in picking winners that have stood the test of time, they’ve naturally had a couple slip the net and fade into footballing mediocrity.

So, let’s take a look at each year’s winner and what happened to them next.

Van der Vaart picked up the gong as an Ajax player after enjoying a brilliantly impressive 2003.

His career never continued on the upward trajectory many expected, though, and he went onto become quite the journeymen across Europe.

Three years in Hamburg were followed by a failed stint with Real Madrid and a couple of inconsistent years at Spurs.

But he remained a reliable asset for the Netherlands national team, playing 109 games for his country and scoring 25 goals.

After retiring from football in 2018, he became a professional darts player through the iconic BDO circuit. Although he’s now trying his hand at management and has reportedly taken on an assistant coaching role back at his former club Esbjerg.

What needs saying about this legend? The all-time top scorer for Manchester United and England, to say Rooney went onto achieve success in the game would be the understatement of the century.

His one-time rival and Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard once labelled Rooney the best player he played with alongside Luis Suarez, after spending many a year alongside him in the England national