Jude Bellingham took the World Cup by storm to show why he is the most coveted teenager in football.
Bellingham, 19, scored his first England goal with a towering header to send the Three Lions on their way to a thumping victory. But it was the maturity of his midfield performance - in what was his 18th appearance for the Three Lions that the nation purring.
“I told you I was saving that goal,” said the Borussia Dortmund dynamo. To be honest, I thought I had missed. It took ages to loop into the goal.
"I said I wanted to score more goals for Dortmund and England this year and to get in the right positions. It was a brilliant ball in from Luke Shaw and I was just there to flick it away. It’s a really proud moment for me.”
Rio Ferdinand believes Bellingham is already a generational talent. The Stourbridge-born midfielder is already on the wish-lists of Real Madrid, Manchester City, Liverpool and Paris St Germain - but his current £130million valuation will only continue to rise if he can maintain this form during the tournament.
Ferdinand said: “We talk about the great midfielders that we've played with and seen in England in our generation. None of them were doing what Bellingham is doing at this age, on this stage.
“I'm not saying he's better or going to be as good as all of them but at this age none of them were doing what he was doing and it's just fabulous to see.”
Bellingham’s strike opened the floodgates, with Bukayo Saka scoring twice and Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish also on target. Gareth Southgate’s decision to unleash the teenager was fully vindicated.
Bellingham said: “That's how we want to be - that's how we want to carry our mentality through the rest of the tournament. It was a really good day game for us. Six goals in a World Cup game is really impressive, regardless of who you play against.
“Iran came out really well, really strong, hard to break down, and we didn't have anything clear for quite a while. With the goals we opened them up, but the start was tough and we had to dig it out when we weren't getting it all our own way.”
Bellingham added: “The manager just said to enjoy the wins because it would have been a very different reaction had we not have got the result.
“But we've got to get ready for the next game and realise that a new challenge is incoming. Wins take the pressure off. When you win games, you're at ease for a little bit longer.”
