He has been nominated by his peers for the award, which will be announced at a gala dinner at The Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Sunday, 27 April.
The other nominations are Craig Bellamy, Jermaine Jenas (both Newcastle United), John O'Shea (Manchester United), Scott Parker (Charlton Athletic) and Wayne Rooney (Everton).
He says: "It is a nice honour - at the start of the season my agent said to me 'if you are not nominated for Young Player of the Year I am going to kill you!' - so it is quite funny that this has happened.
"But I would rather stay up than get it. I'm only 20 and I still have chances to get that award.
"Who did I vote for? Jermaine Jenas - he has come on so much and he has gone from not really getting a look-in in last year's under-21 championships to playing unbelievably for Newcastle and making his debut for England.
"Plus, he is my mate as well!"
But he predicts it will go to Wayne Rooney and adds: "I think he will probably win it now he has played for England."
Jermain has been involved in every league game of the season, either as a starter or from the bench, and he says: "It has been hard but I have enjoyed it, and I think I have learnt a lot and been working hard for the team.
"The manager always says if you work hard you get lucky and that is what has happened to me - though I didn't get much luck on Saturday.
"But I didn't get too down about it. That's football and you expect that sometimes.
"In the next game I will just do the same things as I did on Saturday - and hopefully they will go in."