The first thing to say is that he is 22 years old. Superstardom in any field tends to reduce age to a blurry footnote, but rarely more so than with Jude Bellingham. Lionel Messi, one of our measures of sporting transcendence almost from the moment he arrived, had played 262 senior matches when he turned 23; Cristiano Ronaldo was on 303. Bellingham still has five months left and is on 346.
Last year was a difficult one for Bellingham, in that he was only named in the Fifa World XI by his peers, the La Liga Team of the Season and voted England’s Player of the Year by supporters. Sarcasm aside: it was the first year when he has come in for criticism. That same old formula – build ’em up to knock ’em down – has a new darling.
Last Saturday, Bellingham was booed by a section of Real Madrid’s supporters during a home win against Levante. There were salacious media reports in Spain of Bellingham enjoying a party lifestyle too much, seemingly with very little actual evidence.
All of this follows from persistent criticism over his England form and demeanour. England are on a stellar run heading into the World Cup; Bellingham has been excepted from praise.
If there are deep-rooted questions to ponder about Bellingham’s professionalism, he’s done a fine job of hiding it. Under-18s at 14, Under-23s at 15, first team at 16, England debut at 17, first World Cup goal at 19 and Bundesliga Player of the Season at 20; these are not the obvious indicators of a wastrel, given the pressure and the competition.
Perhaps what we’re now seeing is some complacency on behalf of the masses. You witness a boy wonder realise his huge potential within the space of three years and you inevitably ask “What’s next?”, as if that is in any way fair. When the demand for more and more quickly falls slightly short, as it always has to eventually, we seek for answers beyond “Maybe the expectations themselves were wrong”.
Bellingham is no arrogant party boy (Photo: Getty)Part of Bellingham’s problem, I think, is that comparatively we know so little about him. Every part of his career has been on his own terms, from turning down Manchester United for guaranteed minutes in Germany to the fated move to Real Madrid and superstardom. He’s something brilliantly unique: a magnificent English footballer who has never played in its top flight. That means we struggle to get a handle on the man.
Normally, this stuff is addressed by media exposure but Bellingham has never been enamoured with playing that game (and nor does he have to). He speaks his mind on occasion – “A load of shit” was how he described the reports of drinking in the Spanish press – but prefers to not speak at all. That gets interpreted, as so often before, as either sulkiness or arrogance.
If media avoidance is an attempt to reduce pressure, the danger is the opposite. In the absence of information, gossip and overanalysis rushes in to create a clear picture of a footballer who feels slightly ethereal, untouchable perhaps. We like nothing more than to subconsciously place famous people into boxes.
And so social media replies will tell you that Jude is surly or spoilt, as if any of these people really know him. Or they say that he isn’t a team player, to which you’d say: if individualism means pulling England out of canyon-sized holes with overhead kicks, sign me up.
And yes, there is the race thing too. I’m not saying that Spanish football has a race problem that may lead to black players getting more flak and makes salacious allegations about them more likely but…no, that is exactly what I’m saying. Ask Antonio Rudiger. Ask Vinicius Jr. Whether it be unconscious bias or people literally being sent to prison for hate crimes after hanging an effigy, Spain has a long history with this sort of thing.
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The great shame would be if any of this brings Bellingham down. The joking goal celebration on Tuesday evening, mocking the notion that he drinks too much, is to be welcomed. But there are signs with England of how this stuff can become self-fulfilling: too much criticism, a brighter spotlight than ever, a harder environment in which to thrive, a player getting a little more browbeaten every day.
The answer, of course, is just to let him be for a while (don’t hold your breath). And to remember that first line again. What were you doing at 22 – clean answers only? Did you make any mistakes? How public was your own life? Did you have the media of your place of work and place of birth implying that you didn’t care enough or behave well enough? Were you forced to be exactly what someone else wanted or woe betide the reaction?
We have to ask what the ultimate end goal is here – a game-changing midfielder continuing to produce his best for Real Madrid and England – and work back from there. Jude Bellingham is not perfect, of course. Nobody is. But if that’s a crime then it is only the fault of the justice system itself.
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