England’s Gareth Southgate: ‘David Beckham lived in a different world, now Jude Bellingham’s doing the same’

England manager Gareth Southgate has signalled that while Jude Bellingham may have changed positions at Real Madrid, and the joint second-top scorer in La Liga, much more impressive has been his handling of th environment at Real Madrid. He also compared the 20-year-old to Steven Gerrard and David Beckham.

Beckham’s arrival at the Santiago Bernabeu was perhaps the height of the Galactico era, signalling the true dawn of the football celebrity. Bellingham did not quite come with the same baggage, but he is operating in the same atmosphere, as Southgate told L’Equipe. Diario AS quoted some of his answers.

“There has been a change in terms of his positioning on the pitch, as he occupies a different role in Madrid. Then, the conversations I had with him were about the fact that he now lives in a different world. He is still very young, he handles all this very well, but his life cannot be that of a 20-year-old who can go wherever he wants, do whatever he wants. I spent some time talking to him to get him to realise what that means. I played with David Beckham, who lived in a different world. This world is Jude’s today.”

Bellingham has received plenty of praise for his maturity over the last year, and Southgate said it was something that he had already assimilated. He also praised his ability to integrate, pointing out that in the same way he behaved with Harry Kane at England, he had no doubt he paid the same respect to Luka Modric and Toni Kroos.

“He was aware of it. And he didn’t seem to suffer from it, but it wouldn’t be abnormal if he had difficulty processing it. Especially because his debut at Real was an incredible high. Then he got injured, at any rate it wasn’t possible for him to maintain this level throughout the season… Jude reminds me of Steven Gerrard. Even when the opponent gives the impression of having control of the game, these are players capable of turning the game around. Through their mentality, they influence their teammates.”

Southgate was also positive about the impact of Bellingham having lived in Germany and Spain giving him perhaps an advantage over others who have stayed in England.

“I think traveling and living in other countries has been good for him. In some ways he remains relatively little known in England, although evidently everyone knows how good he is. But, when he returns to play for the national team, he awakens a particular emotion, which would not exist if he played for a Premier League club.”

Certainly there is no club-related animosity against Bellingham in England, and even in Spain, he has won the affection or respect of most. He will be working to crown perhaps the greatest debut season ever at Real Madrid, especially if he wins the Champions League. At 20 years old and a leader for Los Blancos and England, he has already publicly declared his desire to win the Euros in Germany this summer.

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