Dortmund defender Jude Bellingham, who is only 19, was named Bundesliga player of the season on Monday, two days after seeing his team lose the German title in the last game.
In a poll called “Team of the Season,” the 19-year-old England player got the most points.
Bellingham hurt his knee late in the season, so he didn’t play on Saturday when Dortmund and Mainz tied 2-2 at home. This let Bayern Munich take the top spot based on goal difference.
Bellingham played in 31 of his team’s 34 games, starting 30 of them. He played the most league minutes of any player on the team, 2,693, and scored eight goals and set up four others.
On the Bundesliga site, he was reported as saying, “Every year or half year I’ve played at the club, my role in the team has grown.”
“I was a talented kid when I joined the club, but I’ve added things that have taken my game to the next level.”
He said, “I have to keep being everywhere on the field and doing my best to help going forwards and backwards. I also have to try to control games and take over the midfield.”
“I want my friends to know that I always do what I can to help us win. “I’m the worst person if we lose a game.”
The playmaker signed for Dortmund at age 17 from the English Championship team Birmingham City for 32 million euros. He was a star for England in the middle of the field at the World Cup last year and has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid or Manchester City in the summer.
When he led his team out at Cologne in October, Bellingham became the youngest match captain since the Bundesliga started keeping records in 1995.
His teacher, Edin Terzic, said that Bellingham was “the world’s oldest 19-year-old.”
Statistics from the Bundesliga show that Bellingham ran more miles (322 km) than any of his teammates and got the most “duels” (482), which was the most in the league.
Fans, clubs, and experts voted on the team of the season, and Bellingham was one of four Dortmund players to make the cut.
Team of the season in the Bundesliga:
Goalkeeper: Gregor Kobel (Borussia Dortmund; Defenders: Jeremie Frimpong (Bayer Leverkusen), Matthijs de Ligt (Bayern Munich), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich); Midfielders: Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund), Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich); Forwards: Moussa Diaby (Bayer Leverkusen), Randal Kolo Muani (Eintracht Frankfurt), Niclas Fuellkrug (Werder Bremen).
