Jude Bellingham is the best midfielder in the world, according to England team-mates Harry Maguire and Jarrod Bowen.
Real Madrid’s summer signing drove England’s impressive display at Wembley on Tuesday night, as they came from a goal behind to beat Italy 3-1 and qualify for Euro 2024.
Bellingham became England’s third-youngest international when he made his debut aged 17 years and 136 days in November 2020, and he continues to defy his age. Since signing for Real Madrid in June for a fee that could rise to £116million, he has scored ten goals in ten games for Los Blancos.
“No chance”, Maguire replied when asked whether there is a better midfielder in the world right now than Bellingham. “I’ve been speaking highly of Jude now for a number of years.
“Ever since he’s come and trained with the boys, you could see his mentality, his physicality is incredible. For such a young boy to have a head on his shoulders and to be able to deal with it physically, he looks enormous out there, and that’s a credit to him. I know for a fact he’s humble, and he takes his stride. He’s happy, and he will keep helping the team, for sure.”
Speaking about Bellingham’s versatility, Maguire joked: “Does he want to take my position? Listen, Jude can do everything. It is about keeping his head and pushing, and I’m sure he will because he has good a great team around him and a great family. He is going to be a big, big player for England.
“I hope he carries on his form at Madrid. He’s started really well there, and I’m sure he will continue. He has every opportunity and every piece of talent to go on and be as successful as he wants to be.”
27
Tuesday night's victory against Italy was 20-year-old Bellingham's 27th England cap.
Tuesday night's victory against Italy was 20-year-old Bellingham's 27th England cap.
Asked, just as Maguire was, whether any midfielder in the world is better than Bellingham, Bowen told Standard Sport: “I don’t think so. You see the energy levels, the drive, the determination, everything. He won the penalty, had a message part in Rashford’s goal as well. He was sensational tonight — but everyone was.
“You saw the energy from the front four. The pressing comes from the forward players, who had really good games and all contributed to every single goal. That gives encouragement to the players at the back then to press with them as well.”
The West Ham forward added: “It showed a bit of everything about the group going behind, to come back. That’s what’s really good about this group: the mindset and the resilience. We might go a goal behind, but trust the process. They ran out of steam and we kept running. The performance they [England] put out there tonight was really special, they did magnificently tonight.”
