Franchi, creator of ‘Golden Boy’: “Bellingham is the current ‘King Midas’ of football”

The Italian Massimo Franchicreated the ‘Golden Boy’ award collected this Monday by the English Jude Bellingham andIn Turin, he assured in an interview with EFE that the young star of Real Madrid is the current “King Midas” of football and declared that the Englishman equals the highest percentage in history to win the award, 97% as he got . Kylian Mbappe, although the French with 20 fewer judges in the vote.

The journalist from ‘Tuttosport’, a newspaper that organizes the award that recognizes the best talent under 21 in Europe, discovers in this interview the origins of the award and reveals how there are now directors of major newspapers calling him to be a juror. , how agents include award-winning clauses in players’ contracts and which is their favorite to win, which isn’t Bellingham, the first Real Madrid player to lift the title, the “current ‘King Midas'”.

How was the ‘Golden Boy’ award born? How did you come up with the idea?

I remember it like it was yesterday. That autumn, around September 22 or 23, 2003. The director of ‘Tuttosport’ called me. Normally they call you for normal things, but others call you because they want to say “what did you do yesterday when that player’s agent called me because you wrote about it in the newspaper”, you know?

But no, he tells me: “the owner called me, the man with money has money to invest in an international prize, he is studying a little these days for a prize that we can do. ” And I went very quickly and told him that “there is a lack of an international award reserved for the best young people.” There was the Ballon d’Or and the Bravo Award for the under-23s which, mind you, are players made at 23 years old.

I called the great directors of international newspapers, newspapers with great history, with prestige; and also to our great rivals, ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’ and ‘Correire dello Sport’. They were happy. We started with 30 judges. Then we went to 40 and in two years there were 50. Now they call me directors who want to be part of the jury.

How does the prize work?

There are 20 players selected with an algorithm that helps us and 5 ‘Wild Cards’ that we choose together here in the newspaper. Jurors vote when they have a list. Ten points to the first, to the second seven, to the third five, to the fourth three, to the fifth… and the grand total is done.

Bellingham was going to be an absolute record, because 50 voted, as usual in recent years, and it got 485 points, amazing. That means, out of 50 judges, 45 were first and 5 were second. The percentage is 97%. Even in a country with a dictator his dictatorship does not get 97% support.

Bellingam is the great winner of the edition, is he the best ‘Golden Boy’ ever for you?

One always tries to remember the most recent things and less about what happened before.

But if I think that in 2005 a Lionel Andrés Messi won, who won 8 Ballon d’Ors, it is dangerous to say that Bellingham is the best of all. Will Bellingham win 8 Ballon d’Ors? One? three? I do not know. Mbappé has not won anything yet, but he is a world champion.

As a journalist, I like to always shoot a headline but I have to go slowly, let’s see. It has all the bases, it has very good reinforced concrete to be one, but let’s see what happens from next January. Today he is the ‘King Midas’ of football. Touch something and it turns to gold.

Is Bellingham’s 97% winning percentage the highest in the history of the award?

Just like what Mbappé has. But be careful, only 30 journalists voted for Mbappé’s edition, not 50.

Pedri, Gavi, Isco and Cesc in the past; Now in this edition Bellingham, Linda Caicedo and Aitana Bonmatí are awarded. There is a lot of young talent in Spain.

Of course. And it is surprising that a Real Madrid player has never won, never in 20 editions. This is the number 21. Not because Real Madrid is not a good club, it is the best in history, the best in the world, but because the philosophy of Real Madrid has always been “how much does it cost? Come with us”, that is , signing super champions now men, adults.

This is the philosophy. Something has changed. They started with Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo, two very young people, and then came Camavinga, second to the ‘Golden Boy’ last year. Isco won at Málaga in December and in the summer he signed for Madrid.

What I will say is that I am very proud and it is not a lie. Some agents are now starting to include a bonus for winning the ‘Golden Boy’ as a clause. And now I say “look at this little prize that was born a long time ago, it’s already being put into contracts as a bonus.” This is a dream for us.

On the other side of the coin… Italy. Only Mario Balotelli won and Stephan el Shaarawy finished second. What about the Italian youth talent?

This is a good question, we have some good young people. This year Italy came second in the U-20 World Cup in Argentina, but Uruguay ultimately deserved to win, a superior team.

Tommaso Baldanzi will be the best example of Italian talent. But where does he play? In Empoli. He needs to play in a bigger team. The only exception is Isco, who won it with Málaga.

Italy needs to take care of its nurseries, the place where footballers are born and created. In Italy there are many football academies, many, more than when I was young. But what’s the problem? Those coaches, who are one’s father, one’s uncle, brother-in-law… don’t work.

They need to take a course, I’m not saying UEFA, but we need to have some training, better coaches, it’s because they want to do everything.

I don’t know what the Spanish system will be, but I think the coaches are semi-professional and have taken some courses, not that they are completely ‘amateur’. A survey could be done on this topic and I am sure that in Spain it is better taken care of. The quality is definitely higher because of the coaches.