As it was Father’s Day, my football-mad sons got here spherical my home on Sunday evening to look at England kick off their Euro 2024 marketing campaign.
And when Jude Bellingham strutted cockily away after scoring England’s essential successful purpose, my youngest boy Bertie, 23, turned to me and exclaimed: ‘Dad, he’s three years youthful than me!’
We each laughed loudly on the sheer absurdity of this assertion.
It’s unattainable to grasp simply how younger Bellingham is given his superior dimension, energy, astounding expertise, and swaggering self-confidence.
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Bellingham doesn’t do doubt, or worry, or nervousness.
He is aware of precisely how good he is.
In my favorite film Top Gun, Captain Tom ‘Stinger’ Jordan sneers at Maverick’s harmful risk-taking fighter jet antics: ‘Son, your ego is writing cheques your body can’t money!’
But in Bellingham’s case, his ego is writing cheques his physique CAN money.
After he scored, England followers serenaded their new hero with one other rousing rendition of the long-lasting Beatles anthem Hey Jude, rocking the stadium with the refrain line: : ‘Na..na..na.nananana… nananana… HEY JUDE!’
Some gamers would possibly shrink back from being linked to the world’s biggest ever pop band.
Not Bellingham, a younger man whose media appearances are like his soccer – smart past his years, dazzlingly charismatic, and seemingly easy.
‘I just like the Beatles,’ he smiled on the post-match press convention. ‘I listen to the Beatles a lot – my style of music is a bit old, so that’s right up my street.’
Ironically, the Beatles have been at their performing peak when England’s footballers have been final at their performing peak, in 1966 after we gained the World Cup.
And simply because the Beatles perfected their craft in Germany, within the golf equipment of Hamburg, so Bellingham perfected his craft in Germany, at Borussia Dortmund.
As for his model of music being a ‘bit old’, the identical might be stated of his model of soccer.
Because Bellingham is a gorgeous hybrid model of some of the best to ever pull on an England shirt.
He’s Duncan Edwards with a sprint of Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, David Beckham, Paul Gascoigne, Brian Robson, Paul Scholes, Glenn Hoddle, Gary Lineker and Wayne Rooney.
If this appears like ridiculous hyperbole, contemplate this: on a evening when he performed for an England group many individuals suppose is our greatest since ’66, Bellingham wasn’t simply Man of the Match, he was one of the best participant in each single division on both facet.
He was one of the best tackler, one of the best attacker, one of the best playmaker, one of the best passer, one of the best finisher, one of the best chief, one of the best warrior, one of the best the whole lot.
He was sleek, elegant and silky-smooth but additionally tough and ruthless when he needed to be, too.
My favorite second wasn’t his thunderbolt header purpose, it was when Serbia’s Filip Kostic tried to mix it with him a couple of minutes later.
Bellingham towered over the Juventus star, verbally spray-gunned him again, then intentionally shoulder-barged him.
The message was clear: I’m the Boss right here, and don’t you neglect it sunshine.
Kostic limped off within the 43rd minute, a damaged man.
Bellingham’s mixture of eloquent attraction and belligerent bravado is very Beatles-esque.
John, Paul, George and Ringo didn’t simply stroll the stroll on the worldwide stage with their sensible music, they talked the talked too.
They have been unashamedly conceited, took no prisoners if challenged, and had a world-beating ambition that they fulfilled.
But like Bellingham, their egos have been born from exhausting graft.
The Beatles famously did over 10,000 hours of apply earlier than they hit the large time.
Bellingham did much more, and nonetheless reportedly trains like a fiend.
That’s why the Fab Four turned the largest stars on the planet, and why he is heading the identical method quick.
And it’s exhausting to suppose of a higher function mannequin.
Bellingham is a good-looking, well mannered and well-educated younger man with a robust, tight-knit and supportive household whose mother and father urged him to work exhausting and pursue his desires.
Yes, he has the cock-of-the-walk swag that comes with being a genius participant and the stand-out star of a Real Madrid group that simply gained the Champions League.
But all my favorite footballers have had that, from Cristiano Ronaldo to Thierry Henry.
And their success wasn’t an accident both – all of them share the identical ferocious work ethic.
Bellingham additionally has a massive, compassionate and empathetic coronary heart.
Back in January, he was sitting on the Madrid subs’ bench in freezing chilly, holding himself heat with a massive blanket, when he seen a younger ballboy standing and shivering close by.
He beckoned the boy to come back in the direction of him, however the boy stated he wasn’t allowed to go away his put up, so Bellingham obtained up, walked over to him and positioned the blanket round him.
‘This is the happiest day of my life,’ the boy stated later.
Small gestures like converse volumes about somebody’s character.
Coincidentally, Paul McCartney wrote Hey Jude for John Lennon’s 5-year-old son Julian as a result of he needed to maintain his spirits up as his mother and father went via a messy divorce.
A priority for a younger boy’s misery, whether or not from marital discord or inclement climate, neatly rounds off the Beatles comparisons.
Jude Bellingham is the actual deal, on and off the pitch.
