Barcelona wonderkid Alejandro Balde has unwittingly helped Jude Bellingham in the race for the 2023 Golden Boy Web award, after admitting he didn't like Taylor Swift's music.
Comfortably leading the 2023 Golden Boy Web award organised by Tuttosport a couple of days ago, Balde's vote for the honour dropped from 43 per cent to less than 15 per cent after saying he wasn't a fan of the 12-time Grammy award winner.
This plummet in vote shares came after Taylor Swift fans dragged up quotes from the 19-year-old Barcelona full-back from May. He purportedly stated: "Do I like Taylor Swift? No, I don't like her music".
One tweet posted by a Swift fan urged people to vote for Bellingham so that Balde's lead in the award would be thwarted, which has since been seen over seven million times.
Swift fans have since proceeded to hijack the voting for the Golden Boy award, with Twitter users all agreeing to vote for Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham instead. Since Tuesday afternoon, Bellingham's vote share has risen from 30 per cent to 80 per cent.
In total, over three million votes have been cast for the award, which is in addition to the Golden Boy trophy first established in 2003. Gavi is the current holder of that honour, after journalists from across Europe deemed him the most impressive player on the continent under the age of 21.
Hey Swifties! 🫵👋 we can’t let this Balde guy win the golden boy award 😡💅 Vote for Jude Bellingham here 🫠👇 #TaylorSwift #1989TaylorsVersion https://t.co/705IUsahAk pic.twitter.com/8Y6m2uRmFFSeptember 5, 2023
While Balde has enjoyed a solid start to his 2023/24 campaign with Barca, starting three of the four La Liga games and also earning a call-up to the Spain national side, he can have no qualms with Bellingham beating him in the votes - regardless of the campaign run by Taylor Swift fans.
Having scored five goals in four La Liga appearances for Real Madrid, Bellingham has clearly settled into life in the Spanish capital with ease. Gareth Southgate has also selected him for the latest England squad due to face Ukraine and Scotland, after proving his worth to the national side at just 19.
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