‘Complete’ Jude Bellingham is destined to one day win a Ballon d’Or as his goalscoring at Real Madrid is NOT a ‘purple patch’, insists ex-Barcelona star Javier Saviola
- Jude Bellingham has scored 11 goals in his first 12 games for Real Madrid
- Javier Saviola is backing him to be a leading Ballon d’Or candidate from 2024
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Former Barcelona and Real Madrid striker Javier Saviola has tipped Jude Bellingham to carry on scoring all the way to the Ballon d’Or podium.
The Argentine striker scored 72 goals in 174 games for Barcelona in a six-year spell at the club from 2001.
He also scored five goals in 31 games for Real Madrid when he moved there in 2007.
‘He is so great at arriving in the box to score,’ he said. ‘He is so complete because he is also very good in the air and he has a really strong shot from outside the area.’
Asked if Bellingham’s extraordinary start with 11 goals in 12 games would level out across the season, the former World Cup star backed the run to continue. ‘I don’t think this is just a purple patch that he is going through,’ he said.
Jude Bellingham has been hailed as ‘one of the most complete players in the world’ right now
The high praise has been showered on the Englishman by ex-Barcelona forward Javier Saviola
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‘He’s a player who can score in any given moment. There are scorers who we know are either going to score one way or another way. There are centre-forwards who wait for their chance.
‘But Bellingham can score in so many different ways. He has various ways to score a goal in every game.
‘He is one of the most complete players in the world at the moment.’
Asked if he would be a candidate for the Ballon d’Or, Saviola said: ‘Well the next Ballon d’Or will be [Lionel] Messi. But the one after that… Bellingham brings together so many different qualities.
‘He can do so many different things. He scores, he can play wide, he turns defence into attack incredibly well, he strikes the ball well and he can head it too. To win the Balon D’or you have to be very complete and I think he is.’
Saviola was also full of praise for Bellingham’s attacking partner Vinicus Jnr suggesting he could rival the England international for the Golden Ball in 2024.
Bellingham has been a revelation at Real Madrid, scoring 11 goals from his opening 12 games
Saviola has also been left impressed by Bellingham’s Real Madrid team-mate Vinicius Jnr
He said: ‘Let’s see how this season goes for him but he will be there, and of course Kylian Mbappe will be there too. We knew he would step up post-Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
‘I think those three [Bellingham, Vinicius, Mbappe] have shown that they could become the best in the world.’
Vinicius is running into form at just the right moment and Saviola tipped him to cause Barcelona problems on Saturday although he believes in Uruguayan defender Ronald Araujo Barça have the perfect antidote.
‘Bellingham aside Vinicius is the biggest problem that Barcelona have,’ he said. ‘The best thing they can do is to put Araujo on him because he is one of the few players who is able to stop him. I remember the game at the Bernabeu when Araujo played a great game against him.
‘Barcelona will need to find a way to stop him but they have shown capable of doing that. Tactically Xavi has prevented him from having a big impact in recent Clasicos.’
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