The Bellingham Final

 

 

Sat June 1st finds the world at the feet of a 20 yr old Englishman.

Bizarelly, given his performance of immaculate quality and driving his team to another record breaking title, this Englishman is not Phil Foden.

Jude Bellingham has taken off like the fastest most powerful comet the world has yet seen.

Famously at 16 years old, Birmingham were ridiculed for retiring his shirt.

Whose laughing now?

That shirt has a very particular number with great significance for his career:

24 his number of choice, is actually a brilliant plan hatched we believe by his dad.

Not content with being the best player on any pitch he wanted Jude to be the complete midfielder.

A defensive 6, a central 8 and a playmaking no 10.

yes mathematicians you guessed it :

6+8+10 = 24

Taking the bold step to test himself in the Bundesliga, derided by everyone as the farmers league or alternatively the most predictable and boring league since Juve dominated Serie A, Jude slotted into a team including Erling Haaland and Jason Sancho. With the enormous talent and crucial experience brought by the cream of German football - namely Reus and Hummels, these youngsters destroyed the league, playing attractive, creative exciting football with bags of character.

The rest as they say, is history.

Jude smashed the league to such an extent (as a teenager!) that (playing as a def mid!!) before long he was linked with every club in the world, but increasingly seen as “the solution” for Liverpool’s ageing midfield.

Man City, as is their right, as reigning champions with unlimited resources, made moves to make sure Klopp’s masterplan did not come to fruition.

A cold assessment would suggest Bellingham should grab the dough and go to the Premiership’s very own Bayern Munich, but he didn’t.

Anyone who has played centre midfield in England is very familiar with the name Steven Gerrard and i imagine so is Jude, what’s more his dad, an outrageously talented semi pro, must have also have heard of him and i would bet, respected him.

Cue frothing at the mouth by all Liverpool fans desperate to repeat our best ever (in my humble opinion) business of trading (the brilliant) Coutinho (142 million) for none other than best CB and GK in the world - the one like the magical Virgil Van Dyke (75) and the living legend AlI i SSON! (68)

100 million for a 19 year old: peanuts for FSG!

The scene was set but the enemy of all clubs who quite like winning trophies, the King of Spain’s pet project, Real Madrid , and Carlo Ancelotti had other ideas.

No they said ,they would greedily prefer to beat Liverpool in many CL ties and finals and then steal all the worlds best player.

oh and also Camavinga.

and Tchouameni.

and lets play Vini Jr(other best player in world) and Rodrigo also

oh and Kroos and Modric

and Valverde

But where will this promising DM play u say?

ummmmmm as a no 10 linking all parts of the team

ok cool Carlo but aren’t u being a bit greedy?

you can’t fit all these players in your team…

He did not agree, nor did the King of Spain it seems or his buddy Florentino Perez.

100 million later Jude Bellingham looks cheap and has smashed everyone’s wildest dreams, and talks of ceiling, development and potential.

He has driven the most experienced Champions League winners in history to further glory by grabbing every game he plays in, every contact he comes into, by (excuse me) the balls.

Remember, he is still eligible for the u-21 team.

He has scored 23 goals and given 11 assists after massively slowing down in the last 3rd of the season in La Liga.

He has singlehandedly won both Classicos and would have won the top goalscorer by a mile if he wasn’t such an unselfish player.

I repeat he is 20, and he was considered until a year ago if not a DCM a centre midfielder.

Even the great and mighty Steven Gerrard did not singlehandedly win games, the way jude has, in his first season. At 20.

Now is his final exam and it may not go how he and everyone else expects.

He faces in the final his old team. The players he trained with since 18.

Matts Hummels knows Jude. He is not afraid.

Perhaps he should be.

Facing your old team(mates) is not easy.

Ask Harry Kane, the man who does not miss ,how he felt about to strike the penalty against Hugo Lloris….

More than that, Dortmund have nothing to lose.

They have underachieved and over achieved and now face a one off game for immortality.

I doubt Jason Sancho is feeling much pressure.

Eric Ten Haag maybe.

Real Madrid are huge favourites and they are for a good reason.

They are by far and away the best team in world football at the moment, yes Manc fans u included, pipe down, and more importantly they know how to win. And they specialise in winning the CL final.

2-0 down no problem.

14 mins injury time all good.

The quality difference is huge but football is a funny old game and confidence is EVERYTHING.

Will the favourites buckle or dominate? Do the underdogs REALLY have a chance?

Yes they do and i hope (mostly for Marco Reus) that excitement strikes.

Its tough not to root for Jude. He is so good. He is so smooth. He is an adult in a monstrous teenager body. He has a brain. He is humble. He is nice to people. He is both Black and White. (Yes i said it, its a fact pls don’t cancel me) He is an ambassador for young cool Britannia and i really hope, win or lose, he takes what a ridiculously impressive season he has had into the Euros.

Then links up with Phil Foden, Cole Parmer, Harvey Elliot, Harry Kane, Declan Rice,Kobe Mainoo and all other squad members young and old and plays a great tournament.

Will we be talking about the impact Jadon Sancho had destroying slow turning euro wing backs?

Its possible. Lets see how it all shakes out

England don’t HAVE to win it,  they just have to (genuinely)give their best and we will all love you forever.

Come on the Euros

Come the Engerrrrland

Red Shift

Spanish contributor (Tenerife) 1st June 2024