By Football Wonderkids speaking to Alex Barker

25th Nov, 2022 | 10:39am

Journalist: England ace Jude Bellingham to win 'Best Young Player' award at World Cup

We’re delighted to welcome freelance journalist Alex Barker, also known as Euro Expert, who has worked for Breaking The Lines, GFFN and more, as our exclusive columnist. Each week he will be giving his views on the biggest talking points on Wonderkids across the UK…

Jude Bellingham should be the front runner to win the Best Young Player award at the FIFA World Cup after his England performance, says Alex Barker.

Bellingham got his first international goal for the Three Lions in their 6-2 win over Iran in their opening game of the tournament, and earned rave reviews for his performance in central midfield.

With his importance growing and England expected to progress to the latter stages of the tournament, Barker expects that he will be the man to pick up the award at the end of the competition although Germany’s Jamal Musiala could also shine.

“I would probably end up picking Bellingham,” he told The Football Wonderkids.

“If all goes well, England have a pretty clear path to the quarter-finals and then they’ll probably play France. If you beat them and go further, then I think Bellingham could be at the heart of it.

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“Unless Gareth Southgate really does believe in Kalvin Phillips despite him getting very little game time, I’d be Bellingham is going to start and I think him and Musiala are the two most talented youngsters at this tournament.”

Germany lost their opening game 2-1 to Japan and face Spain next, knowing a defeat could see them eliminated in the group stages and that would severely hurt Musiala’s chances of success.

England on the other hand can seal qualification to the knockout rounds with a win over the USA on Friday night (25 November) with Bellingham expected to start once again.

In other Football Wonderkids news, Jamal Musiala has been tipped to shine at any of Europe’s biggest clubs