‘Everyone will want’ Rolls-Royce Jude
EVERYTHING about Jude Bellingham makes you think he is older than 19. The way he looks, the way he plays, even the way he talks.
‘ The oldest 19- year- old I’ve managed,’ said Borussia Dortmund boss Edin Terzic.
At the stage of his career when most teenagers are hoping for a first-team breakthrough, this was Bellingham’s 21st Champions League game of a hugely promising career — although, in his head, he’s played many more.
‘Growing up, it was always my biggest dream to play in the Champions League,’ he told BT Sport before last night’s Group G tie against Manchester City.
‘We had a patch of grass outside our house (in Stourbridge). We must have played a thousand Champions League finals on that little patch of grass.
‘People always say how mature I am but I don’t really see it. At home, I’m like any normal kid. I want to have a laugh and I want to mess around a little bit. But I want to push the boundaries of my potential and keep reaching for the next dream.’
One of the benefits of joining Dortmund from Birmingham City two years ago is that Bellingham ( below) has been given more opportunities than he would in the Premier League.
He is Borussia’s leading scorer this season with eight goals — this was the first Champions League game in which he hasn’t scored — and even captained the team earlier this month.
Like Erling Haaland before him, Bellingham will surely soon outgrow Dortmund. His market value is already estimated to be north of £100million.
He is so prominent in Liverpool’s thoughts that when Jurgen Klopp wanted a midfielder in the summer, he brought in Arthur Melo on loan from Juventus rather than make a permanent signing that could cut across a move for Bellingham. Chelsea and Real Madrid are among the other options, although Bellingham can pretty much take his pick. ‘To be that mature at that age is frightening, he’s way ahead of the curve,’ said former England international Owen Hargreaves. ‘Everybody is going to want him. He walks into Barcelona, Real Madrid, anyone.’ And then there’s City. On the eve of this game, boss Pep Guardiola said Bellingham had ‘the whole package’ and it was in evidence again here in a rather cagey encounter in Germany. One minute, Bellingham was chasing back to nick the ball off Haaland or dispossess Joao Cancelo on the other side of the pitch, the next he was sending Karim Adeyemi away with a wonderful pass or driving at the City defence.
Even though this wasn’t a night when anyone shone, it was still clear that he is a Rolls-Royce of a player in the way he glided across the pitch or suddenly accelerated to top speed. Technically, he is first class.
He’s certainly not your average teenager, and for that England can be very thankful as we approach a mid-season World Cup in which he is bound to figure prominently for Gareth Southgate’s side.
Bellingham can already look beyond that to the last 16 of the Champions League next year after helping shut out Guardiola’s side.
‘It’s nice to keep them out, Erling in particular, but we could have gone for it a bit more,’ said Bellingham. ‘We’re just happy to go through so we can carry on this journey.’