LONDON :Real Madrid and England midfielder Jude Bellingham has urged fellow elite athletes to open up about mental health issues and limit their exposure to harmful social media abuse.

The 22-year-old was left out of the England squad this week, leading to the inevitable avalanche of opinions about him on traditional and social media platforms.

Bellingham, speaking as a Laureus Ambassador on World Mental Health Day, said he once would be checking his phone to read what people were saying about him on social media, but now largely ignores it.

"As a young player at Birmingham (City), I used to put my name into Twitter and read everything. But even if the comments were positive, I quickly decided: Why should I let the opinion of people who don't know me validate how I think about myself?"

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