When Birmingham City announced the decision to retire the No.22 shirt on July 23, 2020, the whole world looked at the Championship club and sniggered. It was a decision that was branded both "tinpot" and "ridiculous" by millions. Some even went as far as describing it as "embarrassing".
The truth is, a little over two years later, nobody is laughing now. In the blink of an eye, Jude Bellingham has evolved into one of the finest footballers on the planet.
The midfielder, who swapped Birmingham for German giants Borussia Dortmund for an eye-watering £25million fee at the age of just 17, produced another outstanding performance on the biggest stage of all on Sunday night, helping England breeze past Senegal to book a World Cup quarter-final date with France in Qatar on Saturday.
