‘Bellingham has already won 2024 Ballon d’Or’

Carlo Garganese

• 31 Oct 2023 04:48 CDT
• 3 min read

Jude Bellingham is “miles ahead of everyone” in the race for the 2024 Ballon d’Or and is a shoe-in to win the prize if England do well at Euro 2024.

That is the opinion of former Newcastle goalkeeper Shaka Hislop following Bellingham’s sensational start to the 2023-24 season.

Lionel Messi was crowned as the winner of the 2023 Ballon d’Or on Monday evening in Paris, taking the prize ahead of Erling Haaland (second) and Kylian Mbappe (third).

READ MORE: Who will win Ballon d’Or 2024? Shortlist, favourites, latest odds

Bellingham only placed 18th but took home the Kopa Trophy as the best Under-21 player of the year.

Next year, though, Bellingham is expected to be one of the main challengers for the Ballon d’Or after a brilliant start to his Real Madrid career in which he has scored 13 goals in his first 13 games.

Jude Bellingham for 2024 Ballon d’Or

“Right now Jude Bellingham is miles ahead of everyone,” Hislop told ESPN FC.

READ MORE: Messi 1st, Haaland 2nd: The Ballon d’Or Top 30 IN FULL

“He will take some catching the way he has started this season.

“If England do well at the Euros, then it’s not even worth having a vote.

“Just give it to Bellingham and let everyone else move on, let everyone else go to bed early.”

This past summer Bellingham completed a club record transfer to Real Madrid from Borussia Dortmund for a price of around €134m.

This fee also made Bellingham the fourth most expensive transfer in football history.

READ MORE: Bellingham HIT, Mudryk FLOP: How the 10 most expensive transfers of 2023 have performed

And Bellingham is already providing to be worth every penny of this record fee.

He has made the best start to a Real Madrid career that any new signing has perhaps ever made at the Bernabeu.

In his first 13 games for Real Madrid in all competitions in 2023-24, Bellingham has scored a barely believable 13 goals from his attacking midfield position.

These have included a whole host of decisive strikes, including a double in the Clasico to beat Barcelona 2-1 at Camp Nou on Saturday.