Bellingham – the English hero who ‘writes his own scripts’

Jude Bellingham’s remarkable rise continued when he scored England’s match winner Opening of Euro 2024 against Serbia – with boss Gareth Southgate declaring him a player who “writes his own scripts”.

The 20-year-old from Stourbridge, near Birmingham, who plays for Real Madrid, is the first European player to play in three major international tournaments before turning 21.

He has also scored in two tournaments, having scored against Iran in the 2022 World Cup.

His 13th-minute header in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday turned out to be the only goal of the game.

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes and ready to do everything to help the country win this football tournament,” Bellingham said afterwards.

BBC commentator Micah Richards, a former England international, said: “He took the game by the scruff of the neck and that’s what you need.

“His composure is remarkable. He has been the leader of this team since he was very young and he knows it. He has a great attitude, he has everything. I’m running out of superlatives for him. He manages the game very well.

“If he can maintain this form throughout the tournament then he is the man we can trust.”

No wonder Bellingham was voted best in the field by visitors to the BBC Sport website.

After a season in which he won the Spanish title and the Champions League with his club, Bellingham is second favorite to win this year’s Ballon d’Or award – the prize that goes to the player voted the best in the world.

If England win Euro 2024, he could well walk away with that prize.

“He came out today with attitude, knowing this is his game,” former England defender Rio Ferdinand told BBC One.

“He said ‘guys, this is my game and I’m my game’. That’s the vibe he gave me with the way he gestures. You have to take advantage of your great players.”

Bellingham left the field to a standing ovation from the traveling English fans at the end of the game.

“Jude Bellingham is made up of incredible people,” Bellingham said. “It’s not just me. It’s because I have a great support network – my family, my friends, my teammates. Playing football is the easiest part.”

“I got used to getting into the box, going wide and trying to do that. I acquired this habit in Madrid and wanted to take my form to the Euros. and helping the boys win is the most important thing.”

The beginning in Stourbridge

Bellingham started playing football around the age of four – but initially “wasn’t really interested”, according to his first coach.

Phil Wooldridge told the BBC in 2022 that “it wasn’t just overnight, it was a matter of a few months” for Bellingham to get into the game.

Bellingham joined a children’s team set up by his father Mark, a former non-league footballer, and Wooldridge – Stourbridge Juniors.

“The only part I had in developing football was basically making him try to have fun,” Wooldridge said.

At just seven years old, Bellingham joined Birmingham City’s academy.

Birmingham retires its number

Bellingham would spend a decade at his boyhood club Birmingham – with one season in the first team.

The academy coaches wanted his game to have parts of a defensive midfielder (traditionally a number four), a box-to-box player (number eight) and a creative player (number 10). These numbers add up to 22, which would become his Birmingham shirt number.

Mike Dodds was one of Bellingham’s coaches at the Blues’ academy and said: “He was my best coach of coaches, because if he wasn’t happy with a session, if he wasn’t happy with the kind of path his development was going, he You would be the first person to tell me what you think.”

Dodds, who finished last season as Sunderland’s caretaker manager, added: “He’s a magnificent human being.”

Former Birmingham left-back Paul Robinson also managed Bellingham at St Andrew’s and told BBC Sport how he saw Bellingham as a teenager “manage to get the ball and dictate games with his quality of passing”.

“I’ve never seen someone that young be that smart in terms of understanding the game,” Robinson said.

Bellingham became Birmingham City’s youngest senior player at 16 years and 38 days.

He made 41 Championship appearances and scored four goals.

But Birmingham knew they were destined for much greater things and, after a season in the first team, they were sold to Borussia Dortmund for £25m in the summer of 2020.

Its impact was so great that Birmingham removed the number 22 shirt, a type of gesture normally reserved for the club’s greatest legends. This measure was extremely ridiculed at the time, but it soon started to make some sense.

Dortmund’s impact takes them by surprise

Bellingham moved to Germany aged 17 after just one campaign in second division football in England.

But he made an instant impression at a club famous for developing young talent.

“He was very confident,” said former Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki. “You could see from the first training session that he wasn’t shy about getting into duels and showing his qualities and his mentality.

“He gained experience very quickly because he played almost every game. I think he has improved a little in his decision-making and also in his personality.”

Bellingham started out playing in a similar defensive midfield role to the one he had at Birmingham, but eventually began playing a more box-to-box role.

His three years in Germany yielded 24 goals in 132 games – with 14 of those goals coming in his final season.

He even admitted before a Champions League match against Manchester City in which he scored: “I think it all came as a surprise. I didn’t think it would have the impact that it did.”

Bellingham’s influence at Dortmund can also be demonstrated in two other ways – he became their youngest ever captain in a game in October 2022 at the age of 19, and they lost the title without him.

They only needed to beat Mainz on the final day of the 2022-23 campaign to win their first title in 11 years, but Bellingham, named Bundesliga player of the season, sat out with a knee injury and drew 2-2. two. .

He was photographed in tears as he left the pitch for the last time as a Dortmund player – because he had another big move ahead of him.

The best in the world at Real Madrid?

Bellingham joined perhaps the biggest club in the world, Real Madrid, last summer for a huge fee of £88.5m – and yet that seemed like a bargain.

Expectations were obviously high for a player with great promise and a huge price tag – but he exceeded them all with a goal-packed, trophy-winning campaign.

Playing in a more advanced role for Real – as a number 10 or striker – he finished the season as top scorer – and best assistant.

Bellingham scored 23 times and created 11 goals for his teammates in 39 games for the club.

Some of them were big goals too. Notably, he scored the last-minute winner in El Clasico against arch-rivals Barcelona… twice.

He scored twice, including a stoppage-time winner in Real’s 2-1 win over Barcelona in October, and then scored in the last minute at the Santiago Bernabéu in April.

In January, Real coach Carlo Ancelotti said Bellingham was “obviously the best” player in the world “considering he had to adapt to our club, a new culture and language”.

He was named La Liga player of the season and won the 2024 Laureus World Sports Breakthrough of the Year award in any sport.

Real Madrid cruised to the La Liga title, by 10 points, and won the Champions League final – against Dortmund of all teams – at Wembley.

“When he left us, I said the same thing I said to [Manchester City striker] Erling Haaland – I was proud to be their coach,” said Dortmund coach Edin Terzic – who recently stepped down – after that game.

“It’s his first Champions League win and it’s a proud moment for him.”

What are the chances of there being more to come?

Bellingham – the star of England

After all the club’s success, it has become clear that Bellingham, at 20 years old, is already one of England’s top players. Perhaps your country’s key player.

“I’ve never seen anyone so mature for their age,” Three Lions team-mate Phil Foden told the Daily Mail in April.

“I feel like he’s been given a gift from God with his physique.”

Bellingham has already played in the postponed Euro 2020, where England lost the final to Wembley on penalties, the 2022 World Cup and now Euro 2024.

Two of his four goals in 30 appearances came in major tournaments.

He is the second player to score in the World Cup and Euros before turning 21, after Michael Owen – who is incidentally the last English player to win the Ballon d’Or.

Former Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas, watching the victory over Serbia on the BBC, said: “The determination, the belief he gives to the team…

“When you have players like that and he crosses the ball, you know he’s going to be there. He’s your guy.”