by Newsroom
With 97% of the votes, the English midfielder is the winner of the 21st edition of the Golden Boy – the first player in the history of Real Madrid to claim the trophy
Golden Jude. The Golden Boy Absolute Best 2023 is evidently Jude Bellingham. When an international jury of 50 authoritative journalists from the most prestigious European publications awards a twenty-year-old 485 points out of a maximum of 500, there’s only one thing to do: tip your hat. The numbers speak for themselves. Overwhelming supremacy, precisely 97% of the votes. The same percentage Mbappé achieved when he became the Golden Boy in 2017 (291 votes out of 300, but note: back then, there were 30 jurors, not 50). That’s why Jude Bellingham, English midfielder for Real Madrid with 13 goals in the first 13 matches in the “camiseta blanca,” is the “king of kings” of the Golden Boy. Stratospherically “galáctico.” The Verstappen of the most talented Under 21s around. Even the number 5 of the Madridistas, the “dorsal” once worn by Zidane, has left a void behind him, much like the Dutch pilot in the Formula 1 World Championship standings: he has a comfortable 200-point lead over the German Musiala of Bayern, comparable to the 266 points the Red Bull champion has over his closest pursuer. Congratulations to the former “starlet” of Borussia Dortmund, the German club to which Real Madrid’s president, Florentino Pérez, invested 103 million (plus another 35 in bonuses and variables) in the summer to bring him to the Bernabéu. Bellingham fills the only gap in the dazzling “merengue” trophy cabinet overflowing with Champions League and any other trophy. The Golden Boy “Absolute Best” was the only thing missing. Not anymore from today.