Jude’s a leader who plays on the edge, says Southgate
GARETH Southgate does not have a history with hyperbole so when he mentioned Jude Bellingham in the same sentence as Steven Gerrard, Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane yesterday it served to indicate just where he feels this England team may one day travel with the Real Madrid star at the helm.
Bellingham will not be 21 until the middle of this summer’s European Championship and has only five tournament starts. But Southgate already sees him not only as a generational talent but also as a young footballer who can lead.
Recently, Bellingham has attracted controversy in Spain. Accused of calling Mason Greenwood a ‘rapist’ when Real played Getafe last month, that case has now been dropped by the Spanish FA. It couldn’t be proven. Following a game against Valencia two weeks ago, meanwhile, he was sent off for using foul and abusive language to referee Jesus Gil Manzano.
Asked by Mail Sport whether Bellingham runs the risk of getting the wrong side of officials at Euro 2024, Southgate said: ‘I think with some of the great players that play with a mentality he has — I’m thinking Gerrard, Vieira and Keane — they compete.
‘They don’t like losing, they love winning. They haul the team up by its boots at those moments and are often on that line. That is often where he is, so the thing that gives him his greatest strength is something he has to make sure he’s on the right side of.
‘He has normally been able to stay controlled in those moments if he’s had a yellow card. This is the first time with the sending-off I can remember him stepping over that. He is a bright boy, he will learn from that. He’s had an incredible season at historically the biggest club in the world. We love that edge but clearly he has to get that right.’
England have suffered at the hands of capricious tournament referees. David Beckham was sent off against Argentina after a clash with Diego Simeone in the 1998 World Cup. Eight years later Wayne Rooney was shown red after an incident involving Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho.
Reminded of this, Southgate laughed: ‘Well, if I feel that I will talk to him but what I will not do is have, “Southgate warns arguably the best player we’ve had for decades” all over the back pages! I know that is greater fodder for you…’
Bellingham’s emergence as one of Southgate’s key players has been as rapid as it has been impressive. Along with Declan Rice, he already is a leading candidate to replace Harry Kane as captain when the Bayern Munich striker steps away from the international game.
As for the present, this is an England squad with a nod to the future, one that shows how quickly the wheel can turn at this level. It would, for example, appear that Raheem Sterling’s chances of travelling to Germany are gone. Teammate Cole Palmer, 21, is selected ahead of him again while Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon, 23, has also jumped the queue.
‘At Chelsea, Cole is the one that is starting every game and they’re leaving him on,’ said Southgate. ‘With the form of Anthony Gordon, with the goals Jarrod Bowen has scored, Raheem has got a fight on his hands. We know what Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden have done over a long period. It’s the area of the pitch where we have the highest level of competition for places.
‘We’ll never close the door because we know he can perform in our environment in the games that really matter, but at the moment we see him behind those guys.’