Bellingham’s Back With A Point To Prove To England

Jude Bellingham’s rise in professional football from the Birmingham City Academy to the German Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund was already quite the story, but despite still only being 22 years of age he has already commanded transfer fees of over £100 million thanks to his Galactico transfer to La Liga giants Real Madrid.

Having already racked up over 250 career appearances in his short few years in the game, the Stourbridge born native also has 43 England international caps to his name and that number would arguably already be higher had he not seemingly fell out with England manager Thomas Tuchel.

Having been excluded from the group for the last international break, Bellingham finds himself back in the squad for the upcoming games against Serbia and Albania, but the gaffer remains clear that it is only the first phase of his reintroduction and he is far from guaranteed to play at this point in time. For fans who like a flutter and follow legal MO sportsbooks online, they will know the safe money will be on the player going to the World Cup though.

The two fixtures are the quintessential dead rubbers as England have already secured their place at the World Cup, and Bellingham’s reintegration comes alongside a return for Manchester City talent Phil Foden and Bournemouth debutant Alex Scott, so there is some element of experimentation here from the German manager. His eventual return to the group was almost inevitable in many ways given the qualities that he has and his superstar nature following his Spanish adventure, and there would have been very few who felt that his over all World Cup spot was in question here – however, Tuchel’s decision to leave him out sends a very strong and clear message.

The fact the German was so comfortable and dispassionate with the decision sends an additional message that despite his talents on the pitch, Tuchel’s England will not revolve around Bellingham and his wants and desires. If he does not perform in training, or when called on to play, there are also no guarantees that the manager will not repeat the exclusion going forward and undoubtedly that will be something that the player will be looking to avoid.

He will also be very aware that his place in the starting line up is far from guaranteed as Tuchel has been impressed with the improvement shown by Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, and in recalling Foden to the group who himself has missed out on the last three England camps, the manager made it clear that he sees the 25 year old as being best used through the middle, and in a more central role and no longer in a wider position.

The next two games may be irrelevant on a qualification front, but they could be pivotal to Bellingham proving that he again deserves to be one of the first names on the team sheet and let us be honest, he has every quality necessary to do just that. Tuchel was effectively dispassionate about dropping him, the educated guess says he will be pretty passionate about picking him once again if Bellingham shows him exactly what he is looking for in the next fortnight and a bit.

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