Image source, Getty Images
- Author, Phil McNulty
- Role, Chief football writer in Gelsenkirchen
Jude Bellingham celebrated his 21st birthday at England’s Euro 2024 base in Blankenhain on Saturday – having already come of age as a La Liga and Champions League winner in his first season at Real Madrid.
He received congratulatory messages from Tottenham’s James Maddison plus France midfield man and Real Madrid team-mate Aurelien Tchouameni, among others.
But if there was a small cloud over the occasion, it would have been because the party has not yet seriously started for Bellingham and England here in Germany.
For the first time in a soaring rise to global prominence, Bellingham’s performances have come in for unflattering scrutiny. And that is despite starting Euro 2024 with a bang by scoring the winner in England’s opening game against Serbia.
Since then, Bellingham has not only performed poorly but has been in the spotlight for petulant body language in the scrambled draw against Slovenia that ensured England topped Group C and will face Slovakia in the last 16 in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday.
For all this, however, Bellingham is still likely to be the personality England’s under-pressure manager Gareth Southgate looks to as he tries to fire up a faltering campaign.
Bellingham possesses world-class ability, as well as remarkable maturity and strength of character for one so young – so he will not be shaken from an iron self-belief that he can make an indelible mark on Euro 2024.
If this happens, then the sense that England can still somehow pull something glorious from what has been a dismal Euros so far will increase. There is a potentially favourable route to the final in Berlin on 14 July, but only if Southgate’s team can find the form that put them among the pre-tournament favourites.
England’s players have been enjoying some down time before the meeting with Slovakia, with golf and padel tennis on the agenda as Southgate recognised the importance of relaxation in the intense Euro 2024 bubble.
It is now time, however, for England and players of great influence such as Bellingham to kick their campaign into life.
Bellingham will know as well as anyone that he has fallen short and the statistics confirm his struggles.
Image source, Getty Images
The header which gave England victory in that opening game remains his only attempt on target in three games, from a mere three efforts in three matches. He has created only one chance at Euro 2024 so far, playing just five passes into the box.
It is a miserable return for such a driving force of nature who scored 19 league goals for Real Madrid in 28 games this season.
Bellingham’s touch has deserted him in England’s draws with Denmark and Slovenia, admitting after looking exhausted in the second half of the latter game: “I felt like I was absolutely dead.”
He has had a gruelling first campaign in Madrid and so far it has looked like England are picking up the tab for those exertions.
Southgate, however, has no doubts about Bellingham’s condition or his ability to deal with the increased expectations his growing stature has brought.
“I think when you are walking off the pitch and you have given everything, you are going to be feeling physically and emotionally in a certain way,” said Southgate. “He missed a period with Real Madrid with an ankle injury, then missed some games towards the end as they were preparing for the Champions League final.
“I’m not concerned at all about where he is with his conditioning.”
The young star’s dip in form even sparked a debate about whether he currently merits a place in England’s side as Southgate struggles to find a system that suits Bellingham and Manchester City’s Phil Foden, who has been playing off the left flank.
Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti, that great facilitator of world-class talent, has enough riches at his disposal to allow Bellingham to play with the freedom he simply cannot have with England.
It has been noted how Federico Valverde is the key to unlocking Bellingham’s brilliance at club level, with energy and selflessness to cover his team-mate’s greater attacking ambitions.
Image source, Getty Images
Bellingham has been betraying signs of inner turmoil amid the general England mediocrity. This was especially clear in the Slovenia game which ended with three plastic beer cups being hurled in the direction of Southgate by supporters after the final whistle, amid a hostile reception for the manager and players.
Former England striker Wayne Rooney showed a measure of sympathy as he told BBC Sport: “For me, he’s looked very frustrated. I’ve been there in exactly the same position he is in. You saw him throwing his arms up in the air.”
And Southgate was quick to highlight how Bellingham’s career is still, in some respects, in its infancy when he said on Saturday evening: “He’s been smiling a lot. It was a big day for him with it being his 21st birthday. It is also a reminder of his age and how well he deals with all the expectations around him at a remarkably young age.
“I can understand his world is very different from most 21-year-olds I know. He deals with it exceptionally well and better than most 21-year-olds I know.”
Southgate holds Bellingham in such regard and values his personality and input so highly, even at only 21, that he has been named in the squad’s ‘leadership group’ at Euro 2024, along with captain Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Kyle Walker.
Now England need him leading from the front on the pitch.