Jude Bellingham 'not even mentioned' by Real Madrid as a Ballon d'Or contender amid Los Blancos' 'boycott' over Vinicius Jr snub

Real Madrid and Vinicius Junior were supposed to travel to Paris for the Ballon d'Or ceremony as the Brazilian was considered the favourite to win the prestigious award for his performances in the 2023-24 season. However, news broke on Monday afternoon that Manchester City superstar Rodri was set to win the prestigious award, prompting Real Madrid to cancel their travel to Paris in protest of the snub.

A source close to Real Madrid told AS that the club had expected that there was a chance that Vinicius might not win the Ballon d'Or due to his terrible showing for Brazil in the Copa America. Due to the 2023-24 season having held the Euros and Copa America, international performances had some weightage on the voting. However, the 15-time Champions League winners expected that Dani Carvajal would be the one to win the trophy in that case. The source mentioned that Real Madrid did not even consider England midfielder Bellingham would be in the running for the award despite him being labelled as one of the favourites.

Bellingham had a very good start to the season for Real Madrid but faded away towards the end of the campaign. The same was the story for the midfielder at the Euros as he started the tournament strong but was unable to hit the peaks required of him by Gareth Southgate's England. The Englishman gathered a total of 34 goal contributions over the course of the season but has not had the best start to the current season.

Los Blancos players and executives were supposed to travel from Madrid to Paris with an entourage of more than 50 people as they expected multiple awards at the ceremony. However, they will no longer be travelling to the French capital as a form of protest against Vinicius' snub for the big award of the night, with a source expressing how frustrated Real Madrid are over the results.