Jude Bellingham

At 20 years old, Jude Bellingham has this physical status:

Jude Victor William Bellingham (born 29 June 2003) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Championship club Birmingham City.

When he made his senior debut in August 2019, at the age of 16 years, 38 days, he became the club's youngest ever first-team player.

He has represented England at under-15, under-16 and under-17 levels.

Early life

Bellingham was born in Stourbridge, in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, in 2003, the eldest son of Denise and Mark Bellingham. Mark works as a sergeant in the West Midlands Police and was a prolific goalscorer in non-League football. Bellingham's younger brother, Jobe, is a Birmingham City player. Bellingham attended Priory School in Edgbaston, Birmingham.

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Club career

After playing for Stourbridge, Bellingham joined Birmingham City as an under-8 player. He made his debut for their under-18 squad at 14 years old on October 15, 2018, against Nottingham Forest's U23s. He scored the only goal in the 87th minute after Kyle McFarlane's pressure put the ball over the goal line," forcing the ball over the goal line. He had three goals from ten development squad appearances on fourFourTwo's list of the "50 most exciting teenagers in English football" by March 2019, and was a point of concern to major European clubs. He was gradually introduced to the first-team environment as a schoolboy, but the seniors were still training with them on matchday to watch, and he returned as the "19th man" for a Championship match in March.

Bellingham got a two-year scholarship with Birmingham City to begin in July 2019. He was in the first-team training camp in Portugal, played and scored in pre-season friendlies, and was given squad number 22 for the 2019-20 season. Bellingham made Birmingham City's youngest ever first-team member when he started the EFL Cup first round tour to Portsmouth on August 6th. He lowered the record set by Trevor Francis in 1970 by 102 days, aged 16 years and 38 days. In the 3–0 loss, he played for 80 minutes and was the Birmingham Mail's Man of the match. In a 3–0 loss away to Swansea City and his home debut against Stoke City on August 31, he made his first Football League appearance 19 days later as a second-half substitute in a 3–0 loss. Bellingham named the winner after half an hour, but in the midst of a generous deflection, Birmingham bounced back from 1–0 down to beat Stoke 2–1, beating them 2–1 and establishing their youngest ever goalscorer, aged 16 years and 63 days. He started the next match against Charlton Athletic two weeks later and scored the only goal from Kerim Mrabti's cutback.

Bellingham remained a permanent fixture in the matchday squad, sometimes as a back-up, but mainly in the starting eleven. He was welcomed into the team on the left wing, transitioned to central midfield "where he could gain more confidence," and then used "in a more advanced role" after the workers were assured that he would be able to cope with the challenge. For November 2019, he was named EFL Young Player of the Month. Bellingham's head coach, Pep Clotet, says he is more at ease in midfield and more at ease when he gets closer to the opposition box."

He had been linked to many major clubs in January 2020, and Birmingham were reported to have turned down a £20 million offer from Manchester United on deadline day. Bellingham continued as a first-team regular, but by the time the season was ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he had made 32 league appearances. He remained an integral part of the team until the season's return to civilian doors, as well as a late equalizer against Charlton Athletic that made Birmingham's league position less secure with two games remaining. Despite losing the season's last game, he finished the season with four goals from 44 appearances in all leagues, 41 in the league, as Birmingham avoided relegation. The club announced that they would no longer be able to recall one of our own or inspire others in honor of Bellingham's short time with the first team. He was named both Championship Apprentice of the Year and EFL Young Player of the Season at the EFL Awards.

Bellingham had long been expected that he would leave Birmingham, and it had been reported that he and his father had visited many major clubs, including Manchester United and Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. Young players were included as regulars in Dortmund's first team, as shown by Jadon Sancho's likes, and he was impressed by his destination of choice. He travelled to Germany for a medical and was signed on July 20th, 2020: he will return to Birmingham for the last game of the season. Sky Sports reported the undisclosed fee to be the first £25 million, making him the most expensive 17-year-old in history – plus "several million more" dependent on success-related factors.

Bellingham made his debut on September 14, 2020, kicking off the first match of Dortmund's 2020–21 season against third-tier MSV Duisburg in the DFB-Pokal, aged 17 years, 77 days. He scored his second goal in a 5–0 victory, becoming the club's youngest goalcorer in any competitive match, defeating Nuri ahin's record by five days. He made his league debut five days later in Reyna's opening goal in a 3–0 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach, and was named Bundesliga Rookie of the Month for September. On October 20th, Bellingham became the youngest Englishman to start a Champions League match, smashing the previous record set by Phil Foden.

Bellingham was a regular in all competitions in the first three months of the season, with six starts and seven substitute appearances in the Bundesliga as well as four Champions League debuts. Due to a foot injury, he missed the first two matches of 2021 but he returned to action as a more consistent starter. He was involved in Marco Reus's goal against Manchester City in the away leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, but he was denied a goal after Ederson mismanaged a back-pass. Replays showed no foul, but the video assistant referee (VAR) system could not help because the whistle was blown before the ball hit the empty net. After 15 minutes of the second leg, Dortmund showed tremendous poise as he seized on a loose ball and swiftly switched feet to clip a shot into the top corner." Bellingham scored his first Bundesliga goal from Reyna's knock-down to equalizer with VfB Stuttgart early in the second half, beating Dortmund 3–2. In the 2021 DFB-Pokal Final, Bellingham started for Dortmund with a 4–1 victory over RB Leipzig. He was booked in the first half and was replaced at halftime by Thorgan Hazard, who was with his team 3–0 ahead. He had 29 appearances and one goal in the Bundesliga, 46 appearances, and four goals in all competitions, and was named Newcomer of the Season by his fellow players.

In the 2021 Kopa Trophy, Bellingham came runner-up to Pedri of Barcelona, the best under-21 male player to be voted by the previous champions of the Ballon d'Or. Bellingham defeated Bayern Munich 4-12 in the Deutsche Klassiker on December 4th. He contributed to both Dortmund goals, but Bayern took the match 3–2 on a 77th-minute penalty after long VAR involvement. Referee Felix Zwayer, who refused to comment or discuss either of the two Dortmund penalty appeals, had two of the game's early claims dismissed by referees. Bellingham, who appeared live on Viaplay immediately after the match, was critical of Zwayer's decision and referred to his participation in the 2005 German football match-fixing scandal, saying, "You give a referee" that has the match fixed before, Germany's biggest game.

What do you expect?"

DFB pleaded for his remarks as a matter of urgency to Bellingham. The German Football Association had him suspended €40,000.

International career

Bellingham made his England under-15 debut against Turkey in December 2016. At the 2018 Birmingham City Academy awards night, he was given a Special Achievement Award for his captaining the team during the 2017-18 season. He had made his first appearance for the England under-16 team by the end of 2018 and went on to play in eleven games, score four goals, and captain the team. He was named in England's under-17 squad for the Syrenka Cup, a friendly tournament held in September 2019 to train for the 2020 European Championship qualifiers the following March. He made his debut in England's first match of the tournament, a 5–0 victory over Finland, in which he scored his third goal, and captained the team in their second game, in which they came back from a goal down to defeat Austria 4–2 and qualify for the final. Bellingham scored the third time on his third attempt. Following a 2–2 draw, he retained the captaincy for the final, in which England defeated Poland on penalties. Bellingham was named in the under-21 squad for the European Championship qualifiers against Kosovo and Austria in September 2020, a first call-up for him. After 62 minutes of the match against Kosovo on September 4th with England 3–0 ahead, he came on to replace Tom Davies after 85 minutes to win 6–0.

Bellingham was called up to the England senior squad for the first time in November 2020, after James Ward-Prowse and Trent Alexander-Arnold were unable to recover from injury. On Friday, he made his debut in a friendly against the Republic of Ireland at Wembley Stadium, replacing Mason Mount after 73 minutes of a 3–0 win. He became England's third-youngest full international at 17 years, 136 days; only Theo Walcott and Wayne Rooney had appeared in a younger age. Bellingham was drafted in the England squad for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, which was postponed until June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He appeared in England's first match as an 82nd-minute substitute and the youngest of any nationality to participate in a European Championship for the first time in history, a 84-year-old record was broken by Poland's Kacper Koznowski just six days later.

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