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Jude Bellingham is England’s Ballon d’Or winner-in-waiting
Gareth Southgate says he knew Jude Bellingham was going to deliver a “terrific” performance for England against Scotland at Hampden Park from the moment he saw him line up before the game.
“The biggest thing for me is his personality,” the England manager said. “We knew our anthem would be booed, we talked to the players about taking energy from that. We wanted to prepare them for everything for the game.
“But I’m looking at him standing in the line and I know what’s coming. That’s the sort of thing that makes the difference, the mentality of the player.”
Knowing what is coming from Bellingham is an increasingly confident prediction. He has the capabilities to become England’s greatest ever midfielder, maybe even the greatest ever player, and that is not said lightly.
Having made the 30-strong longlist, with Bukayo Saka, for the Ballon D’Or to decide the world’s best player, Bellingham is also the most likely Englishman to win the prize since Michael Owen in 2001. It may not happen this year but it appears an inevitability during his career. And probably sooner rather than later.
Even when he won the award, Owen, then a Liverpool player, did so on the back of a season in which there were few other outstanding candidates and despite his remarkable goal-scoring abilities, it could not be argued the forward really ever had the status of being the best.
For Bellingham it is different. And not least because he has quickly established himself not just for England but for Real Madrid, arguably the world’s biggest, and certainly the world’s most scrutinised, club.
In Madrid they already call him el jefe (the boss) and it is an appropriate description not just for the way that Bellingham dominates games but the demanding personality that he shows and the possibility that he will one day captain the Spanish giants and also England.
Southgate has identified that.
“He’s definitely got leadership qualities,” the England manager said and he has pinpointed a shrewd trait in Bellingham that has also been noticed at Madrid since his summer move from Borussia Dortmund for a fee of up to £115million, with add-ons, which already looks like an amazing bargain.
“Where he’s bright enough is to attach himself to those sorts of characters,” Southgate said of the senior players Bellingham spends time with on England duty, such as Kieran Trippier, who at 32 is 12 years his senior.
“The people you mix with, the people you hang around with in life, probably are a good indicator of where you’re going to end up. He’s really savvy at that,” Southgate added. “I think his whole life and how his family have looked after him have given him a great start, but there’s still a lot to go.”
At the last World Cup it was noticeable how close Bellingham was to Jordan Henderson, despite the significant age gap between them also, and he has made sure in Spain that he already has a good relationship with Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, undoubtedly two of the best midfielders of their generation.
Bellingham has a natural affinity with players who he not only feels he can learn from but are more mature. His coach at Dortmund, Edin Terzic, who made him one of the club’s three captains, also saw this and told Telegraph Sport that Bellingham was “the oldest 19-year-old player I have ever met… the sky is the limit”.
Bellingham is just 20 now. And the sky is the limit. It is even a phrase that is being used to describe him after his extraordinary start in La Liga and his stunning performance against Scotland capped by his goal and what is becoming a trademark, arms outstretched celebration so iconic already in Madrid that Vinicius Jnr is copying it. Yes, it was only a friendly against Scotland, but Bellingham has also done it at a World Cup and he is doing it for Madrid who are stunned by the impact he has made.
There are footballers who are outstanding and dominant and brilliant by that age, and even younger, but there are very, very few who ally it with the way that Bellingham carries himself.
At Madrid he took the No 5 shirt – Zinedine Zidane’s jersey – and the France midfielder is an idol of his. Bellingham has a similar, swaggering style and, like the France midfielder, is a big guy for the position he plays but moves with such ease.
We are witnessing greatness develop before our eyes
For England, he wears No 10 – the role he plays for Madrid – another sign of his confidence. It takes away some of the defensive duties in midfield and allows him to often break the furthest forward or link the play close to goal. It was all summed up by his wonderful assist for Harry Kane at Hampden.
We are witnessing greatness develop before our eyes. The game against Scotland was Bellingham’s 26th cap for England. To put that in context, Steven Gerrard was only making his international debut by that age, Frank Lampard was a year older as was Paul Gascoigne. Bryan Robson, who Bellingham is often compared with, was 23.
In terms of the impact he is having it is similar to Wayne Rooney, who took Euro 2004 by storm at 18, and was only 19 years and 10 months old when he earned his 26th cap. But Bellingham is not only a very different player but a very different character. For all his youthful force-of-nature brilliance, Rooney could not have coped with the move to Madrid the way Bellingham has, for example.
Looking at Bellingham it is hugely exciting, and a little scary, to think what he might be like when he is 25, when he will be reaching his prime. “That’s for all of us to make sure we’re helping him in the right way, pushing him at the right times, helping him with the bits of his game that can get better, but also allowing him to flourish,” Southgate said.
That is certainly happening.
