Barcelona legend and 1994 Ballon d’Or winner Hristo Stoichkov has emphatically expressed his belief that Jude Bellingham was not deserving of Tuttosport’s Golden Boy award.
Bellingham secured the Golden Boy accolade, presented to the best under-21 footballer of the year, with a record-equalling 97% of the votes—matching Kylian Mbappe’s achievement in 2017. The 20-year-old made a notable move to Real Madrid during the summer transfer window, elevating his performance over three seasons with Borussia Dortmund. Bellingham has notably netted an impressive 13 goals in 14 appearances for the 14-time Champions League winners, playing a pivotal role in crucial victories both domestically and in Europe.
Despite Bellingham’s remarkable achievements, former Barcelona star Stoichkov conveyed to Tuttosport that, in his view, there were more deserving candidates overlooked. He pointed to the absence of trophies won by the attacking midfielder in 2023 as his basis for this opinion.
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“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,” asserted the Bulgarian football icon.
“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.