The Championship is a notoriously tough league. Although the quality of football varies, the commitment and intensity needed to compete never does. Each season is a long, hard slog, drawing on reserves of mental and physical strength that few possess, particularly at 16, but Jude Bellingham has always been an anomaly.
There had been murmurs about an absurdly talented young prospect in the Birmingham City academy for a while. As he climbed up the ranks, progressing at a much faster rate than his peers, they grew into a barely containable clamour. Everyone knew about Bellingham.
He was just 14 when he first played for the under-18s and scored on his debut for the Under-23s a year later. Bellingham rose to every challenge he was set. It was simply a matter of when, not if, he made his mark on the first team.
Fast-tracked
Bellingham’s opportunity arrived in the 2019-20 season. Garry Monk had been sacked despite delivering decent results and his assistant Pep Clotet was put in charge. The owners’ aim was to dominate possession and play more attacking football. It was rarely fulfilled as Blues once more flirted with relegation.
In a season defined by disappointment, Bellingham’s emergence was the one clear and unquestionable highlight. He already had a bit of everything – strength, skill, vision and close control – but his mentality impressed most. He was a boy playing with the presence, maturity and self-belief of an adult. He was fearless, both on the ball and when trying to win it back.
Bellingham had been something of a project for the Blues academy, a chance to test out their ideas about how to produce a complete midfielder. A quick learner and a willing case study, he had the raw ingredients needed and an insatiable desire to improve.
The origin of Bellingham’s preferred squad number lies in a conversation with his former coach Mike Dodds. He wanted the teenager to combine the best attributes of a holding midfielder (4), a box-to-box runner (8) and a traditional playmaker (10), hence the fabled 22.
“I remember watching him and felt he had to play with the older boys to provide the appropriate stretch and challenge for him,” Dodds told The Sportsman.
“We had lots of resistance from some of the coaches who obviously didn’t feel it was appropriate. I’m not saying playing in a higher age group is the only way for challenging footballers, there’s loads of different ways of challenging them. But we just felt it was appropriate in…
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