Roy Keane has tipped Jude Bellingham to become “one of the greatest players of all time” after the England midfielder was instrumental in their 7-0 demolition of Croatia.
Bellingham scored one and assisted three in Rijeka as the Three Lions dealt Croatia, an international rival of the past decade, their heaviest ever defeat.
The Real Madrid man became the first midfielder to record four goal involvements for England in a single match since David Platt scored four against San Marino in February 1993.
An astounding performance, Keane believes the 23-year-old is on course to go down as not just one of the best of a generation, but in football history.
”Ranked 13th in the world, they made them look like a Gibraltar kind of team. Outstanding in every aspect, and I think Bellingham can go on to become one of the greatest of all time,” he said on ITV. “As long as he gets no injuries and he keeps the head.
“Again his attitude with England recently, I’ve been praising him a lot for being fantastic in possession, but what he’s doing out of possession, that lifts all these other players.
“If you have a player that good in your team who’s amazing in possession and he’s playing for Real Madrid and he’s doing brilliant things, but his work rate off the ball [is high], that will just inspire all the other players.
“He’s a huge leader for them.”
Bukayo Saka, who scored two on the night and had his first set up by the Real Madrid midfielder, similarly hailed his team-mate’s performance.
“He was amazing tonight to be fair,” he said. “He deserved [England] player of the year and he probably deserves man of the match tonight as well.
“He was special. Happy to play with him and happy to have him in the England team."
England’s final match of the international break will be at home to Czech Republic on 6 October, now in a strong position in their Nations League group.
