Real Madrid and England star Jude Bellingham has high expectations to match his talent and will push his coaches to deliver his best performance – and if they don’t, they’ll hear about it.
Jude Bellingham was never afraid to challenge his coaches and once threatened to leave Birmingham after being confronted with what he believed was unfair treatment. His talent comes from the club’s academy and the England international will likely gather a squad to challenge him.
Bellingham joined the Blues’ academy from the under-eights group and remained with the team until the age of 17, when he retired his shirt number when he moved to Borussia Dortmund. The midfielder has a domineering presence and that has been the case from the start.
The Real Madrid superstar did not always appreciate some training methods that particularly benefited him. The youngster will be furious if academy coaches stack the odds against him in an attempt to further his talent.
According to the Telegraph, Bellingham stopped speaking to academy coach Mike Dodds and even threatened to quit on another occasion. But they still keep in touch.
“His desire to be the best, even at that young age, was something I’ve never encountered before and I’m sure I’ll never encounter again in my life,” Dodds said. “His desire to be the best is in every part of his life.”
read more: Middlesbrough send sharp three-word message after Rob Edwards’ departure is finally confirmedread more: England manager Thomas Tuchel warns Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who was part of Gareth Southgate’s England coaching staff at Euro 2024, suggests Bellingham won’t simply accept what he’s told if there’s a problem.
The midfielder is not the “yes man” that Hasselbaink praises. The former Borussia Dortmund ace is able to perform well on the pitch and will only need to be meddled with.
“Oh, I loved him,” said Dutch. “He challenged you as a coach, but he did it the right way. He’s not a yes man, but that’s what I like. But obviously, if you’re not a yes man, you have to be able to back it up. And he does that.”
Manager Thomas Tuchel will soon see that side of Bellingham after the Three Lions star returned to the squad after missing the last two games. The German manager will find it difficult to accommodate his star players, with Bellingham and Phil Foden selected to challenge for the same position in Tuchel’s chosen system.
He told talkSPORT: “They can do it, but not structurally. It’s not the balance that we’ve developed or the structure that comes with wingers like specialists in that position. At the moment we’re playing six, eight, 10, nine.”
“Especially in the number 10 position, when you think about Phil being able to play there, when you think about Jude, you think about Morgan Rodgers who played great in that position.
“You’ve got Cole Palmer, you’ve got Morgan Gibbs-White, there’s so many players and you might not get them all. I think Phil can play as a number nine, he can also play as a number 10. First of all, it gives him the advantage of competing for both positions. For Man City, he plays almost like a number eight or a number 10, so we’ll probably see him as a number eight for the next few months.”
“But again, I think the odds of having five No. 10 players in the No. 10 position playing in the tournament are very, very, very low. I don’t see how this is going to help.”
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