Barcelona legend and 1994 Ballon d’Or winner Hristo Stoichkov has insisted that Jude Bellingham did not deserve to win Tuttosport’s Golden Boy award.
Bellingham won the Golden Boy award – given out to the best under-21 footballer of the year – after accumulating a record-equalling 97% of the votes – Kylian Mbappe achieved the same figure when he won the award in 2017.
The 20-year-old joined Real Madrid during the summer transfer window after spending three seasons with Borussia Dortmund, and has since taken his game to the next level. Bellingham has scored an incredible 13 goals in 14 appearances for the 14-time Champions League winners, leading his team to crucial victories both domestically and in Europe.
Despite Bellingham’s achievements, former Barcelona star Stoichkov told Tuttosport that in his opinion there were more deserving winners overlooked, and pointed to the lack of trophies that the attacking midfielder won in 2023 as his reasoning.
“No [he shouldn’t have won]. I don’t dispute his value. He’s one of the strongest talents in the world: he’s got a lot of class and a lot of brains,” the Bulgarian said.
“For me, he’s a mixture of Michael Laudrup, Kaka and Paul Pogba. The future is his. The next Ballon d’Or will be played with him, Mbappe and Haaland, but I’d like to know what he won in 2023 between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid. Nothing…
“Given that Gavi, the reigning winner, was not eligible under the regulations I would have given it to [Jamal] Musiala or [Alejandro] Balde – who won La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup with Barcelona.”
Bellingham came within a whisker of winning the Bundesliga title at the end of the 2022/23 campaign with Dortmund, but was injured on the final day of the season and instead watched his team come up short to Bayern Munich.
Thanks to Madrid’s impressive start to the season in both La Liga and the Champions League, Bellingham will be quietly confident of getting hold of his first winner’s medal by the time his first year at the Santiago Bernabeu draws to a close.
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