Jude Bellingham: England's Rising Star Dominating the Tournament
Jude Bellingham has not just arrived on the international stage. He has kicked the door off its hinges and walked straight into the centre of England’s latest tournament charge.
Handed a starting role as another major competition began, the midfielder immediately took ownership of the occasion. He drove England to a 4-2 win over Croatia in their opener, dictating tempo, dragging team-mates up the pitch, setting the tone. When the next test came against Panama, it was Bellingham again who broke the deadlock in a tight, awkward contest, the kind that can stall a campaign before it starts. He refused to let that happen.
When England needed leaders, two stepped forward. Bellingham and record-breaking captain Harry Kane have carried the fight, both on the scoresheet in a breathless last-16 victory over Mexico at the iconic Azteca Stadium. The atmosphere crackled, the stakes rose, and Bellingham met the moment with the cold assurance of a veteran, not a young man still carving out his story.
In Mexico City, he went beyond influence and into domination. A quick-fire first-half brace from the Birmingham-born star lit the touchpaper, sparking wild celebrations and tilting the entire tie in England’s favour. Questions have followed him – about his temperament, his swagger, his “who else?” celebration made famous at Euro 2024 – but so has something else: a relentless, unshakeable self-belief.
Danny Murphy sees that trait as the difference-maker. Speaking to GOAL in association with BetWright, the former England midfielder did not bother with understatement. He called Bellingham “a wonderful footballer in terms of his all-round game, athleticism, technical ability, fitness,” before underlining the mentality that, in his eyes, separates the good from the generational. Murphy placed him in rare company, mentioning Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen as the kind of level Bellingham is brushing shoulders with at a similar age.
Murphy has watched him closely. During Euro 2024, when England laboured and rhythm deserted them, he saw one player still trying to rip games open. Bellingham’s overhead kick and towering header in the opening match hauled England to victory almost by force of will. While others went safe, he kept demanding the ball, kept gambling, kept carrying the responsibility that usually weighs down older shoulders.
That, for Murphy, is the crux of it: the balance between elite talent and an “unbelievable mentality and belief in himself”. Debate over whether Bellingham should start, or whether another midfielder – referenced by Murphy as “Rogers” – might be preferred, left him baffled. Not because the competition lacked quality, but because Bellingham operates, in his view, on a different plane and has already proved it when the lights burn brightest.
Club football tells the same story. Bellingham walked into Real Madrid, into that dressing room, that expectation, that scrutiny, and owned it from day one. His debut season in Spain was described by Murphy as “nothing short of incredible”. Only injuries have checked his momentum this year, a rare pause in an otherwise relentless rise.
The conclusion Murphy draws is blunt. If Bellingham is fit, he plays. Anywhere. The role is almost secondary to the influence. He can drop deep, surge forward, arrive late in the box, press high – the tools are all there. What impresses just as much is that his obvious edge, the arrogance some fans bristle at, never dilutes his work. It fuels it.
Murphy has seen the other side of that coin. The game is full of stars whose attacking brilliance comes with a trade-off. He namechecked Mohamed Salah as an example of a player whose defensive work is limited but whose match-winning impact makes it a fair bargain. Bellingham, he argued, offers both sides: the match-winner and the relentless worker, the player who will track back, press, close down and then still have the energy and clarity to decide the game at the other end.
Right now, Bellingham looks like a footballer operating in his own space. He looks like he is enjoying the weight of expectation, not shrinking under it. He looks like someone who genuinely believes he can win games on his own – and has the evidence to back it up.
Murphy did not spare those who doubted whether Bellingham should even be in the squad, let alone the team. Articles suggesting he ought to stay at home or sit this one out draw a sharp response from the former midfielder. In his eyes, those critics should be “holding their head in shame” and apologising publicly.
England’s campaign is still unfolding, the real tests still to come. But with Bellingham driving them from the heart of midfield, the question feels less about whether he belongs at this level and more about how far his blend of talent and steel can carry a nation.
