Jude Bellingham has won the 2023 Golden Boy award after an outstanding year in which he established himself as one of the best young footballers in the world.
The 20-year-old was widely expected to win the award as his stellar performances for England, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid saw him finish above the likes of Bayern Munich midfielder Jamal Musiala and Barcelona defender Alejandro Balde.
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The award, established by Italian newspaper Tuttosport, is given to the best player under the age of 21 in Europe across a calendar year.
Previous winners include Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi, while Barça’s Gavi was named the 2022 Golden Boy.
Other awards were also announced Friday as Arsenal’s sporting director Edu Gaspar won Best European Manager and Brighton’s Tony Bloom was named Best European President.
Bellingham has been in outstanding form for Madrid since he signed for the club in an initial €103 million ($112.18m) deal in June. The former Birmingham City man has scored 10 goals in 11 LaLiga appearances this season.
Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti said he was “surprised” by Bellingham’s goal-scoring form after he scored twice in their 2-1 El Clásico win over Barça on Oct. 28, and added that “right now he’s the player who’s making the difference.”
The midfielder also enjoyed a successful three-year spell with Dortmund but failed to win the Bundesliga title in agonising fashion as his team were pipped to the post by Bayern on the final day of the 2022-23 season.
Bellingham has been a key part of Gareth Southgate’s England team ever since his excellent performances at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar helped England reach the quarterfinal stage, where they were knocked out by France.
Bellingham missed Madrid’s 5-1 win over Valencia because of “anterior instability of the left shoulder” and pulled out of the England squad with injury Thursday ahead of their Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.
Other candidates on the 2023 Golden Boy short list included: RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons, Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery, Chelsea’s Levi Colwill and Evan Ferguson of Brighton.
Bellingham will officially receive the award Dec. 4 at a ceremony in Turin.
Golden Boy short list:
Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Xavi Simons (RB Leipzig), António Silva (Benfica), Alejandro Balde (Barcelona), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen), Benjamin Sesko (RB Leipzig), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Rasmus Højlund (Manchester United), Levi Colwill (Chelsea), Johan Bakayoko (PSV Eindhoven), Milos Kerkez (Bournemouth), Arthur Vermeeren (Antwerp), Evan Ferguson (Brighton), Lucas Gourna-Douath (FC Salzburg), Warren Zaïre-Emery (Paris Saint-Germain), Ousmane Diomande (Sporting Lisbon), Arnau Martínez (Girona), Mathys Tel (Bayern Munich), Andy Diouf (Lens), Arda Güler (Real Madrid), Bilal El Khannouss (Genk), Martin Baturina (Dinamo Zagreb), João Neves (Benfica), Lamine Yamal (Barcelona).
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