Jude Bellingham is remarkably still only 20 despite his meteoric rise in football. He has already іdeпtіfіed a player he believes will surpass his own achievements.
After Ьᴜгѕtіпɡ onto the scene as a prodigy at Birmingham, Bellingham moved to Borussia Dortmund in 2020, where he played 132 games and саᴜɡһt the attention of top clubs. Real Madrid ultimately secured his transfer for £113 million last summer. Since then, he has seamlessly adapted to life at the Bernabeu, earning the title of best player in LaLiga in his first season.
In a short span, he has become second only to Harry Kane in importance to the England team and is now considered one of the best in his position globally. Yet, despite his success, the midfielder, who woп the Golden Boy award in 2023, has гeⱱeаɩed to the award’s creator that he believes one of his teammates will surpass his talents.
Jude Bellingham has sky-rocketed to become one of the leading midfielders in the world
He has become arguably the second most important player for England behind Harry Kane
Yet he has pinpointed one Real Madrid starlet that could exceed even his own talents
‘Last December, Jude Bellingham told me that Real Madrid had a fantastic young player who might even be a little better than him – Arda Guler,’ said Massimo Franchi, in an interview.
‘He told me that he shows incredible things in training.’
Guler joined Bellingham in arriving in the Spanish capital last summer, having come through the ranks at Fenerbahce in Turkey, though for the somewhat more modest £17m.
There, he was thought of as one of the most promising talents to come through in a long time.
However in his first season he suffered a number of injury setbacks, the attacking midfielder deprived of regular game time until the end of the campaign.
Yet after only 31 minutes of action in his first five league games he earned a more prominent place in the side, and vindicated Carlo Ancelotti’s call with five goals in his last five appearances in LaLiga.
Despite a stop-start season, that form was enough to earn him a call-up to the Turkey squad for the European Championship, and he has already made his presence felt.
Guler scored an incredible second-half goal to re-establish Turkey’s lead against Georgia
The Real Madrid star’s calm celebration came after his brilliant Euro 2024 goal of the tournament contender
In one of the games of the tournament so far, Turkey beat Georgia 3-1, with Guler scoring a sensational goal in the second half.
Guler had been a constant presence in attack and decided to take the match by the scruff of the neck when he latched onto a pass, dribbled towards goal and bent his effort into the top corner to make it 2-1.
The aptly named ‘Turkish Messi’ looked in disbelief when he ran off to the corner flag celebrating before being mobbed by team-mates as Turkey forced themselves back in front.
His incredible finish from 30 yards out even had Turkey manager Vincenzo Montella jumping for joy as those in the technical area hugged each other in ecstatic celebration.