Jude Bellingham Voted Bundesliga Newcomer of the Season

After a brilliant first season in the league, Jude Bellingham has been selected by his peers as the Bundesliga Newcomer of the Season for the 2020-21 campaign. Not to be confused with fickle fan voting, this award is voted on by the players themselves, serving as further proof of how great a talent Bellingham is.

It has been quite a season already for the Borussia Dortmund midfielder, who has now added another piece of hardware to his ever growing collection. Signed this past summer from Birmingham City FC for €25m, a record for a teenager, Bellingham was an instant hit and a matchday 1 starter in both the Bundesliga as well as the Champions League. The box-to-box midfielder has been nothing short of sensational for Die Schwarzgelben, playing in 29 matches in the Bundesliga while scoring 1 goal and providing 3 assists. Bellingham also started all six matches in the DFB-Pokal en route to lifting the famous old cup, even putting a stranglehold on the Leipzig midfield in the final at the Olympiastadion.

Bellingham was instrumental for BVB’s midfield this season, finishing third in tackles despite playing far fewer minutes than those around him. In fact, according to fbref.com, the Bundesliga leader in tackles, Xavier Schlager of Wolfsburg, put in just over 3 successful challenges per match; while Dortmund’s teenager finished at just over 2.7 tackles per game making him one of the most impactful players in the league. There is no doubt that while Bellingham was the best newcomer of the season, he is also already one of the league’s best players at his position, despite his tender age.

Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images

There is no rest for Jude this summer as he prepares to play his part in helping England make a deep run in the European Championships. Due to uncertainty in the midfield, Dortmund supporters could see Bellingham starting some really meaningful matches in a major tournament. This seems like a lot of pressure for someone who is just 17 years old, but at Dortmund, and now England, age is just a number. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough, and right now Jude is better than good. Bellingham’s season is something of a fairytale of sorts, and if things go England’s way, he may just be celebrating his 18th birthday with a round of 16 clash in this summer’s marquee international tournament as well.