Marcus Rashford, Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele are among the 25 players who make up the shortlist.
The was founded by 'Tuttosport' in 2003 and relates to performances across the calendar year, with a panel of 30 journalists deciding the winner.
Among the favourites to win this year are Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele. Both French youngsters made two of the biggest moves of the summer, with Mbappe making the move to PSG on an initial loan-deal from Monaco, and Dembele switching from Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona for a club-record fee of £97m.
But Marcus Rashford, who finished runner up to Renato Sanches in last year's competition, will also be a strong contender after imrpessive for Manchester United this year.
England have more representatives on the shortlist than anyone else with six players including Dominic Solanke of Liverpool and Dominic Calvert-Lewin of Everton, two players who impressed during England's success at the U20 World Cup in the summer.
There is also a nomination for Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus, Milan's Gianluigi Donnarumma and Youri Tielemans of Monaco.
Here is the list of nominees in full:
Aarón Martin, Espanyol; Jean-Kévin Augustin, RB Leipzig; Rodrigo Bentacur, Juventus; Steven Bergwijn, PSV Eindhoven; Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Everton; Federico Chiesa, Fiorentina; Ousmane Dembélé, Barcelona; Amadou Diawara, Napoli; Kasper Dolberg, Ajax; Gianluigi Donnarumma, Milan; Gabriel Jesus, Manchester City; Joe Gomez, Liverpool; Benjamin Henrichs, Bayer Leverkusen; Borja Mayoral, Real Madrid; Kylian Mbappé, Paris Saint-Germain; Emre Mor, Celta Vigo; Reece Oxford, Borussia Mönchengladbach; Christian Pulisic, Borussia Dortmund; Marcus Rashford, Manchester United; Allan Saint-Maximim, Nice; Dominic Solanke, Liverpool; Theo Hernandez, Real Madrid; Youri Tielemans, Monaco; Enes Ünal, Villarreal; Kyle Walker-Peters, Tottenham.