I think the standards have put to a ridiculous level, based on what Ronaldo/Messi have done and the outrageous consistency expected of them.
I grew up watching Zidane, a player who won 3 Fifa WPOTY's and 1 Balon d'or. He was one of my favorite players as a young teenager/late child.
In all his greatest seasons, he spent at-least 15 games a season ghosting through games doing, quite literally, feck all. There were so many games for Juve and Madrid where he would just jog around, receive the ball, turn and then just pass it to someone else, for 90 minutes.
Yet he was someone who, out of nothing, could conjure sheer magic, and at his very best, through sheer force of will, could take the game by the scruff of the neck and win the game.
Yet, in some crucial champions league games, he simply did not show up. But that was enough to get him many Balon D'ors or their retrospective equivalent at the time.
You watch him vs Real Madrid in the 98 final, and he quite literally, was a solid 3/10. He was dreadful that match, yet still won Balon D'or that season. Did you guys watch the final vs Borussia Dortmund? He got destroyed Park Ji Sung vs Pirlo style by Paul Lambert. Yes,
that Paul Lambert.
I feel nowadays, modern fans will watch those games and say, "Wow, this guy is so overrated, he's meant to be the best playmaker in the world yet he literally does nothing, what's he good at? turning and then passing it sideways?
Frank Lampard came 2nd in balon d'or and made top 5 multiple times. Yet nobody ever said, "Lampard should never have come close." Bellingham has already exceeded Lampard's best ever season in terms of output and is generally just a better all round player. If Lampard can make Balon D'or contention by his output, why can't Bellingham?
We've been spoilt by the sheer audacity of Messi/Ronaldo being able to do it all season, every season, for 10+ seasons. This is not the norm, most players have games during the season where they are either just keeping it simple and ticking things over or just not all there - this is true for literally everyone not named Messi and Ronaldo and even they occasionally had this.
Or Prime Zidane in the Champions League in 2000. Did nothing all group stage, got sent off in the 3rd game. Came back in the final game, did absolutely nothing, decided to nut someone (Materazzi was not the first time) and then got himself a red. His entire CL Campaign summed up.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/champions_league/994847.stm
He went on to the win the World Player of the year that season.