Jude Bellingham’s record as the youngest player to ever score a Championship goal has been usurped by Leicester City’s Jeremy Monga.
Aged 16 years and 37 days old, Monga surpassed Bellingham’s prodigious record by less than a month. The current Real Madrid star was 63 days on from his 16th birthday when he fired in the winning goal for Birmingham City against Stoke City six years ago, less than a week on from his debut in the competition.
Much like Bellingham, Monga has been tipped for big things. The Foxes academy graduate got his first taste of Premier League football during the club’s relegation-doomed campaign last term, earning admiring glances from Manchester City and Chelsea. The teenager became the youngest starter in Leicester history after lining up against Huddersfield Town in midweek before finding the back of the net for the first time in his senior career away to Preston North End on Sunday.
“He deserves the credit, he is a talented boy and we are trying to take care of him because he is very humble and that is very important for me because the way he works on the pitch is excellent,” Leicester boss Martí Cifuentes told after the 2–1 loss.
“He wants to learn, he is eager to improve and he has a lot of talent so I’m happy that he scored his first goal and I’m sure he’s going to stay humble as well and I’m not happy only about the goal but the whole performance.
“He is showing character and personality and we’re going to try to help him to be the player we think he can be.”
If Monga can get anywhere close to Bellingham’s achievements even at this premature stage of his career, Leicester will have hung on to a golden asset.
