Gary Neville says Jude Bellingham is England’s star and must start at the World Cup.
The Three Lions will play one more warm-up game this week before the real competition begins on June 17th in Dallas against Croatia.
Manager Thomas Tuchel is keeping his cards close to his chest when it comes to selection, even though a number of players are guaranteed to start.
That is no longer the case for Real Madrid superstar Bellingham, who faces stiff competition from Aston Villa forward Morgan Rodgers.
Tuchel started Rodgers in Saturday night’s 1-0 win against New Zealand, but Bellingham impressed after coming off the bench. But while the debate continues over who will qualify for the match against Croatia, it is a no-brainer for Neville.
“I love Morgan Rogers. I love him. But let’s be clear, Jude Bellingham is not a sub. He’s not a sub. He’s not a sub. He’s a star. That’s it. He’s a star,” Neville told the Telegraph.
However, Neville’s Sky Sports and Stick to Football colleagues are less certain, instead believing that, barring a late-game injury, Bellingham will start the World Cup on the bench.
He said on Overlap, provided by Sky Bet: “I think Tuchel is strong enough and he’s already shown how he deals with Jude Bellingham. He left him out of some teams. There’s a lot being said. There’s obviously work to be done on the relationship there, but unless Morgan Rodgers gets injured in the warm-up game with Jude Bellingham starting the first game, I don’t see how things will go.”
Morgan Rodgers is completing a fantastic season at Aston Villa (Image: Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Tuchel himself has admitted there is still a fight left for Bellingham, making it clear that he is one of 14 to 15 players in the starting XI vying for a spot.
“He’s one of the starters and I know he’s one of the starters, but we have 14 or 15 potential starters. Those roles can change all the time, but I think we have about 14 or 15 good starters right now. And Jude is one of them.”
But regardless of who is ultimately chosen as England’s number 10, Carragher believes it could be a difficult tournament for England. After their opening game against Croatia, the Three Lions will face Panama and Ghana in the group stage, before a daunting battle for the latter stages.
And Carragher fears England will fall below the standards achieved under Gareth Southgate, who reached the World Cup semi-finals and two European Championship finals.
The former Liverpool defender added: “And I’m a bit worried that Gareth Southgate is going to be valued a lot more over the next five to 10 years because I’m a big fan of Southgate in terms of what he’s done for England and what people are saying about his underachievement and what he should have done in this team.”
“To be completely honest, I think England will be tough in this competition. If you look at the squad that has been selected, there are a lot of good players, but I would classify many of them as good players in the Premier League. Looking at all of them, I don’t think it’s representative players. Maybe it’s just the current state of the team at the moment. So I can’t say I’m the most optimistic at the moment.”
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