At just 19 years of age, Jude Bellingham is already establishing himself as one of Europe’s top midfield talents.
Although he narrowly missed out to Barcelona youngster Gavi for both the Kopa Trophy at the Ballon d’Or awards and the Golden Boy accolade in recent weeks, the sky remains the limit for the England star.
Having all but muscled his way into starting contention for Gareth Southgate’s side for the World Cup, Bellingham is also enjoying a stellar start to the current campaign with Borussia Dortmund, having added goals – eight in 17 appearances so far – to his dynamic midfield displays.
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Ahead of the Bundesliga side’s Champions League showdown with Manchester City on Tuesday, Pep Guardiola has described Bellingham as ‘the whole package’ and is among many who have been impressed by the player’s rapid progress to date.
We put some questions to our Eurosport Germany colleague Robert Bauer, who gave us the lowdown on how Bellingham has been performing for his club, how much he is improving and what the future holds.
How good has he been so far this season?
Bellingham has had an outstanding season so far. In the Champions League he has scored in each of four games (including against City in the reverse fixture at the Eithad) and has been voted man of the match twice. In total, he has already scored eight goals (and registered two assists) – a great rate for a central midfielder who is a classic box-to-box player.
However, he not only proves his strengths going forward, but is also very important when Dortmund don’t have the ball; he has won the most duels in the Bundesliga so far (186). In the absence of Marco Reus and Mats Hummels, he has also led the team as captain – and that at the age of 19. In short, he is without a doubt Dortmund’s best player this season so far.
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His talent has been obvious but where has the sudden ability to score goals come from?
Bellingham scored six goals in total last season but was not that present in attack. A main reason for this was of course Erling Haaland. After his departure, and the cancer diagnosis of his successor Sebastien Haller, Dortmund have yet to find a reliable goalscorer, although Youssoufa Moukoko has done well in recent games. The players from the ‘second row’ are therefore more encouraged to get involved in the offensive game and occupy the centre.
With Salih Özcan (and partly Emre Can), Bellingham also has a classic sweeper in midfield next to or behind him and can therefore progress forward. He often played alongside Mahmoud Dahoud and Julian Brandt last season, who also like to step forward, so Bellingham had to be a little more defensive.
What is Terzic doing tactically to get the best out of him?
As I have already said, with Özcan and also against strong attacking opponents with Can, Bellingham has two or two sweepers next to him in central midfield and can thus also boost the game forward. Bayern Munich, for example, prepared for this and partially doubled up on Bellingham. He works a lot both going forward and backwards, but also gets a lot of freedom on the pitch from Terzic.
How happy is he at the club and the way things are going?
Both the club and Bellingham’s team-mates are very, very happy with him. The fans chanted about him after Saturday’s game against Stuttgart – where Bellingham scored twice – and Terzic also said after the game: “Jude did really well today. It’s extraordinary at that age, at 19 to play football constantly.”
Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham celebrates after scoring their first goal during the UEFA Champions League Group G match between Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester on Wednesday 14th September 2022
Image credit: Getty Images
Is there any fear of burnout given how many games he’s played at such a young age?
Of course. Up until the cup game against Hannover a week ago, Bellingham had played 90 minutes of every single game. He was therefore initially rested against Hannover, but Dortmund had problems against the second division team, so Bellingham came after just over an hour, took a penalty and scored to make it 2-0. In the games before that, he had actually seemed a bit tired – which was no wonder given his workload.
Dortmund have to be careful not to burn him out, but he is currently too important for them. That’s why it would be key for Dortmund to secure qualification for the round of 16 in the Champions League against City in order to give Bellingham a rest against Copenhagen, for example.
Rumours persist over his future – how long will he realistically remain a Dortmund player?
Realistically, not for much longer. He’s simply too good not to take the next step towards joining an absolute top club. With a reasonable offer (but we’re specifically talking about 100 million euros or more here), Dortmund will eventually be forced to sell him because they are somewhat dependent on the transfer income. Last season Dortmund made a loss of 35.1 million euros. However, whether Bellingham will leave the club next summer or stay a little longer (his contract doesn’t expire until 2025) seems to be completely open at the moment.
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