Portuguese wonderkid Joao Felix has won the Golden Boy award for 2019 – ahead of England’s Jadon Sancho and Bayer Leverkusen’s Kai Havertz who finished second and third respectively.

The 20-year-old announced himself on the world’s stage with Benfica last season that saw him score 18 goals with the Portuguese giants.

His performances earned him a £113million move to Atletico Madrid earlier this summer.

Felix said: ‘Thanks to Tuttosport for the Golden Boy Award 2019, I am very proud.

‘It is the second time that a player from Atletico Madrid has won this award and I am happy.

‘Thanks also to Benfica, in particular to coach Bruno Lage for all he has done for me and my family that is always close to me.’

Sancho finished as runner-up for the prize following his impressive string of performances for Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.

Forty journalists vote on who they believe is the best young player in Europe is during the calendar year, with 10 points awarded to their first vote while lesser points are given to those in their top five choices.

Felix follows in the footsteps of Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney and Kylian Mbappe who have all won the award, which was originally established in 2003.

Last year’s winner Mattijs de Ligt came fifth in the rankings for 2019.