Jude Bellingham will dominate for England for years to come, according to his Borussia Dortmund boss Edin Terzic.
Midfielder Bellingham, a certainty for Gareth Southgate's World Cup squad, faces Manchester City in Tuesday night's Champions League tie in Dortmund. Bellingham scored Dortmund's opener in their 2-1 defeat at City last month and Terzic hailed the 19-year-old's prolific development since joining from Birmingham City two years ago.
“Borussia Dortmund is well known for offering young talents the platform to play at the highest level,” said Terzic. “I think Jude is the oldest 19-year-old I’ve ever seen. He’s great on and off the pitch. We are really happy with him. It’s a win-win situation.
“Not only do we benefit from him, but Dortmund is also the right step for him in his development. Jude will have a big impact, not only tomorrow and for the rest of the season, but also with the England national team in the next few years.
“I've been lucky enough to work with Declan Rice at West Ham and I think both of them are going to dominate English football, in terms of the midfield positions, for the next decade.
“This season, Jude has a slightly different role within the team. He’s more attacking, he’s entering the opposition box many times. He already scored eight goals for us this season. This is the next step that we talked about with him before the season.
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“We’re very happy that he is performing this way, but we know his development is not finished yet and we are here to support him and to find his limits.”
On Erling Haaland, who returns to his old club for the first time tonight, Terzic said: “There are only positive emotions when we think about Erling.
“He was not only a brilliant player, but a fantastic person inside the dressing room. It was great for him to be in Dortmund but also great for us to have him here. But now he's a player for Manchester City, he's scoring goals in a different shirt and we have to stop him from scoring.”