Birmingham City got it right, Jude Bellingham is something different. He's a player English football wasn't ready for. It might not be too much of a stretch to say he's the country's very own Kylian Mbappe. A teenager tearing the World Cup apart and doing it like it's nothing more than holding a buttercup underneath his chin at school for a bit of fun.
Rarely do players look so at ease in new surroundings, rarely do teams retire a number for a 17-year-old. Everyone laughed at the Blues in 2020, the whole of England is laughing now. They've got a special one.
The midfielder helped Gareth Southgate's side to a second consecutive World Cup quarter-final. Considering the time before Southgate ended in a group stage exit, the Euros after that was embarrassment against Iceland and England hadn't scored in a World Cup quarter-final since 2002, it's pretty good going.
