Jude Bellingham put in another typically excellent performance on Monday, once again proving Pep Guardiola right.
Bellingham scored the opening goal in England's 6-2 defeat of Iran in their World Cup opener, and was superb all afternoon while playing in a midfield trio. Despite being only the Borussia Dortmund star looked perfectly comfortable on the biggest stage in the world, although that will come as no surprise to Manchester City and Guardiola.
The Birmingham-born midfielder has come up against City on four occasions so far in his fledgling career, each time for Dortmund in the Champions League. Ahead of City's first group stage clash against the German side back in September, Guardiola cast his mind back to when a 17-year-old Bellingham lined up against City in the quarter-finals in 2021.
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"The quality and skills, everyone knows about it, but it's not just about that," Pep said.
"It's about the whole package. He's really good. He's already in the national team playing with them at 19. That's quite impressive. But as I said when he was 17, it wasn't just the quality, it was about he was shouting, leading, kicking, and going to the referee.
"I thought that this guy was something special in terms of that mentality. Now, at 19 years old, he is already one the captains of the [Dortmund] team and, when that happens at 19, it is quite impressive."
Those qualities were on full display once again on Monday, but this time on the biggest stage of them all as Bellingham shone for England during the World Cup encounter.
City are believed to be interested in signing Bellingham in the summer, although they will face stiff competition for his signature. The likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool and Bayern Munich are all reportedly in the race, and should Bellingham continue to perform well in Qatar then his value will only increase.
Dortmund are reportedly expecting him to move on in the summer, but they will likely demand a fee of £100m or more.
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