Gareth Southgate loves watching Jude Bellingham but feels he hasn’t seen the Liverpool target becoming a vocal England leader yet.
Bellingham was in fine form again on Sunday evening as England beat Ukraine 2-0 at Wembley Stadium.
Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka were both on the scoresheet in a fine England win, making it two victories in a matter of days having beaten Italy on Thursday.
Bellingham was deployed as a number 10 once again, taking an advanced role ahead of Declan Rice and Jordan Henderson.
Who knows, maybe we see Bellingham and Henderson in the Liverpool midfield together next season.
That role frees up Bellingham to focus on attacking rather than his all-round midfield game at Borussia Dortmund.
Southgate is understandably a huge fan of Bellingham, but feels there is a difference between Dortmund Bellingham and England Bellingham…
Gareth Southgate comments on Liverpool target Jude Bellingham
Southgate has told The Mirror that he hasn’t yet seen Bellingham take on a sharp edge in the England setup.
Bellingham has always spoken his mind and been brutally honest with his feeling at Dortmund, where he has been playing since 2020.
Southgate admits that he has seen Bellingham take on that role for Dortmund but he hasn’t quite done the same with England yet.
Southgate added that he doesn’t want to take away the edge from Bellingham’s game and called his attitude ‘infectious’.
“Jude wouldn’t hesitate to challenge,” said Southgate. “I haven’t seen that in quite the same way but I have seen it when he’s played for his club. We don’t want to curb that edge, that drive. That’s what makes him the type of player he is.”
“If you look back at big-personality players over the years, part of that is what has made them the top players they are. That desire to win, hatred of losing – whichever it is. That’s a big part of Jude’s make-up and it’s infectious on other people as well,” he added.
It’s sometimes easy to forget that Bellingham is just 19.
Already one of the top midfielders in the world, Bellingham has so much ahead of him.
That vocal edge will come with England and it’s the kind of thing he could also deliver at Liverpool.
Jordan Henderson is very close with Bellingham and has proven himself to be a vocal leader at Anfield over the years.
The path from Steven Gerrard to Henderson to Bellingham makes sense for Liverpool and whilst Southgate hasn’t seen that yet, we can see Bellingham becoming an Anfield leader if he makes the move.
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