Every year, the Italian daily Tuttosport awards the Golden Boy, an individual trophy which rewards the best young player under the age of 21 playing in Europe. A renowned trophy, which is equivalent to the Ballon d’Or for young players, and it is a prize which is of particular interest to football fans. In recent years, Erling Haaland (2020), Pedri (2021) and Gavi (2022) have won, while Kylian Mbappé was crowned during the 2017 edition.
Among the nominees, we also found Gavi, for his own succession, Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Xavi Simons (RB Leipzig), Rasmus Hojlund (Manchester United) and Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen). Also with four French players with, among them, Warren Zaire-Emery (PSG), Mathys Tel (Bayern Munich), Lucas Gourna-Douath (RB Salzburg) and Andy Diouf (RC Lens). But for the first time in the history of the trophy, it was a Real Madrid player who was the lucky winner.
Jude Bellingham crushed the competition
Indeed and without much surprise, Jude Bellingham was the lucky winner of the 21st edition of Golden Boy, with 97% of the votes. The 50 voting European journalists gave it a score of 485 points out of a maximum of 500 possible. The Three Lions playmaker finished second in 2021, then third in 2022, and he therefore won this award by crushing all competition. He who had already won the Kopa Trophy, an equivalent title awarded during the Ballon d’Or ceremony.
The former Borussia Dortmund man, who arrived at Real this summer for 103 million euros, excluding bonuses, has already put all of Madrid in his pocket. Ten goals in eleven La Liga days in particular, for a total of 14 goals and 5 assists in 16 matches, all competitions combined. But above all, the 20-year-old won 15 of the Spanish club’s 28 points in the Spanish league. Proof of his meteoric and limitless rise for Carlo Ancelotti’s team.
