Hey Jude, Jude Bellingham.
If the introduction is part Beatles and part James Bond, it is a measure of the company football’s newest superstar is currently keeping.
The 20-year-old Englishman has had quite a week. First, he won El Clasico with both goals for Real Madrid, while not being fully fit.
One a stupendous drive from distance that will be among the best of the season.
Two nights later, he was voted the Best Young Player of the Year (Raymond Kopa trophy) at Fifa’s Ballon d’Or awards night in Paris.
As the eulogies came thick and fast, the football world seemed to open up for him.
Lionel Messi collected his eighth and surely final Ballon d’Or as best player: not even he can see him getting a ninth.
Back in England, they were mourning the death of Bobby Charlton, widely regarded as the country’s greatest player.
There’s a clutch of candidates for next best, but no one was saying that Bellingham doesn’t have the potential to join them.
Are we getting carried away?
Well, the Spanish newspapers weren’t holding back either.
Sports paper AS called him “Lord Bellingham” on its front page. Inside he was both “Sir Bellingham,” and then the entire “British Empire.”
More sanely, El Pais wrote of his all-round ability: “He’s a soloist capable of being the whole orchestra.”
Real Madrid players are comparing him with Alfredo di Stefano, Ronaldo and Zidane.
After he scored in Naples, they compared him with Maradona.
Even his level-headed coach, Carlo Ancelotti, says his new shining star “is assuming the leadership of the club.”
He predicts he’ll get 20-25 goals this season. He’s already scored 13 in 13 games and plays in midfield.
That’s as many as Zidane managed in his most prolific season for Los Blancos.
Back to the musical theme, two members of the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood, were in the Spotify sponsor’s box in Barcelona.
When Bellingham’s first goal almost burst the Barca net, they jumped from their posh seats in amazement.
More than one headline belted out: ‘Beatles 2, Rolling Stones 1.’
Later Bellingham posted a mock picture of him and three teammates walking across the iconic Abbey Road zebra crossing just like John, Paul, George and Ringo.
If that hinted at caution, it’s to be welcomed as with all the adulation, you wonder how he’s going to keep his feet on the ground.
There’s hope that Bellingham’s rise has not followed the usual wonder kid script.
Everyone knew he was good, but not this good. There were no news clips of an otherworldly child genius as we saw of Messi, and Tiger Woods in golf.
Nor had he emerged from the slums to make a tin can sing as did the likes of Garrincha and Maradona.
Bellingham’s upbringing defied convention by being solid and uneventful.
He came from a good home, his father a police sergeant, his mother a housewife. He went to school on time, was bright, disciplined and passed his exams.
But his best subject was football. He was on the books of Birmingham City at 8 and played in the U-18s at the age of 14.
Tall and physically strong, he held his own against men when still a boy.
He broke into the first team just a month past his 16th birthday and took Trevor Francis’s record as the club’s youngest player.
He was capped by England at U-15s, and every level since to become their third youngest senior international.
Cash-strapped Birmingham knew they had a special talent and refused Manchester United’s £20m offer before succumbing to a slightly higher one from Borussia Dortmund in July, 2020.
The German club’s reputation for nurturing – and playing – young talent had impressed Bellingham and his dad.
It also says much for the player’s maturity that he was prepared to go overseas to further his career before he’d even finished school.
He immediately impressed in the Bundesliga and after doing likewise with England in the Euros, all eyes were on where he would go next.
Liverpool thought they had the inside track as Jurgen Klopp had established a dialogue with him, but the Reds were soon priced out of the market.
Unlike erstwhile teammate Erling Haaland, Bellingham didn’t have a cut-price clause in his contract and Dortmund would not be giving him away.
He’d always wanted to play for Real Madrid and it was for the Spanish giants that he signed in the summer for €100 million.
He was following an illustrious line of Englishmen at the Bernabeu that included Gary Lineker, David Beckham, Michael Owen and Steve McManaman, but none started like he has.
‘We knew he was good, but not this good’ has been a much-used mantra throughout Europe these past few months.
He was always a powerful, rangy, attacking midfielder with excellent control and two good feet.
He could tackle, head a ball and was ever willing to press. If there was a quibble about his game, there were perhaps not enough goals.
Well, 13 in 13 is his answer to that. It’s a Haalandesque tally that no one saw coming.
He’s only one short of the total he scored in 42 games for Dortmund last season.
Real may be a better team but their La Liga opponents are better too. There’s been no drastic positional or tactical change – he has simply raised his game a couple of notches.
Some players can be daunted by Real’s reputation, its stellar place in Spain’s cultural life, and fail to live up to expectations.
With the mixed-race boy from Birmingham, he has relished the challenge and flourished at the more exalted level.
Barring an unforeseen calamity, you see him winning Fifa’s senior prize in years to come.
Indeed, he might not beat Messi’s total but the headline writers will be unable to resist renaming it the Bellon d’Or.
He’s always had talent but he’s made it better, better, better. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
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