Jude Bellingham can win you the world, and you’d still criticise him for not bringing the moon. That’s the kind of mood that social media has built around the player, and we are buying none of it. It’s the most absurd kind of football rhetoric we have laid our eyes on and one that makes no sense in any universe at all.
Bellingham is a generational, one-of-a-kind player who does as much work in the shadows as he does before the cameras. His arrival changes the shape of teams, and that is always for the better. At 22, he is the most mature leader that this English team has got on its hands, and the English fans seem to be way too ungrateful about it.
From the qualifiers and the games before them, it is evident that England is going to the World Cup with an extremely good team that plays fluid, rapid-paced football that is pleasing to the eye. Thomas Tuchel took some time to settle, and now he has created a team of beasts for the Three Lions.
But there is always something to say about Jude Bellingham, right? And most of it is criticism of the worst kind. But here’s the thing that might come as a bitter pill for England fans to swallow. The English team needs Jude Bellingham more than Jude Bellingham needs the English team, and that is a hard fact that is indisputable if you have footballing acumen.
It's about time for England fans to face this uncomfortable Jude Bellingham truth
It is imperative to mention that Jude isn’t dependent on England to build his reputation. Right from his Birmingham and Dortmund days, he has established himself as one of the most mature and elite players of his time.
He is parallel to none, and you have to understand that as a fact barring any preconceived agenda against him. He is in no need to derive any more fame or worth from the English side. Real Madrid does the work just enough for him.
That means it becomes England’s job to offer him a platform that complements his stature rather than hoping that Bellingham can derive his peak from them.
The blend that Bellingham offers in threat before the goal, creative ability, sheer stamina on the field and overall leadership, Tuchel’s England will be rendered weak without that. Of course, there are some incredible players to fill the shoes but none would be able to do it the way Bellingham does. He brings a unique profile that is very hard to replicate.
It is essential to establish that Bellingham is a free player. He demands autonomy that Tuchel’s system sometimes does not provide him for the most part. His Venn diagram demands solitude but it is often made to overlap with others which restricts the true potential that this engine can bring to the English setup.
Being unable to tap the transitional impact and defensive identity that Bellingham offers is a loss for the side that employs him. Bellingham’s employment is a double-edged sword. If you build around him, he can be your best investment. And if you proceed to define him in rigidity, it will not do the most harm in the negative sense, but it will be the biggest loss in terms of missed opportunity.
England need this World Cup and they need Jude Bellingham, the best of him, for it. There is no other way round with this.