Hey Jude! Remember that famous song from The Beatles in the 1960's? Well it definitely seems relevant again now Jude Bellingham has gained his first senior England call-up, and it seems as though he's also going to be a massive hit with England fans.
You can't help but be impressed at the rise of him, seeming as though only just over a year ago Bellingham was making his first senior appearance for Birmingham City, becoming their youngest first-team player ever at 16.
In July he joined fellow England international Jadon Sancho at Borussia Dortmund and has since gone on to be involved in 10 matches for the German outfit, scoring once.
He was initially supposed to be with the Under 21's but withdrawals from the injured duo of James Ward-Prowse and Trent Alexander-Arnold has meant he has been added to the senior squad for England's upcoming UEFA Nations League games against Belgium and Iceland.
The youngster is surely one for the future with bags of talent, but the decision to pick him over the likes of more experienced players such as Ross Barkley, who has been in fine form for Aston Villa, is definitely a bold one for sure by Southgate.
People quite rightly can question Southgate's decision to call him up, but I think you've got to give him a chance at some point because in his short career already he has proven he oozes talent and he could definitely give some energy to that England midfield.
It'll also be interesting to see if Southgate sticks with his three at the back system which never really had a chance to prove themselves against Denmark after Harry Maguire's red card on 31 minutes reduced it back to a four.
Before that game it showed that it could clearly work against Wales. Connor Coady filled that central role and scored his first ever goal for England despite his last goal from open play coming all the way back in 2016 against Crawley in a League Cup fixture.
So Southgate once again has plenty of questions on his mind coming into these matches. Should he start Bellingham? Does he keep to the back three? Will Pickford keep his place in between the posts? And as I write this piece, news has broke that Joe Gomez has suffered an injury in training with the squad, so he will be a miss to both England and Liverpool.
From my view, Bellingham could be worth the risk, definitely against Iceland. I also think the back three will be used again, which could be very similar to the one that played against Denmark and despite all the criticism surrounding him, Pickford should keep his place.
England play the Republic of Ireland in a friendly tomorrow with an 8pm kick-off, before playing Belgium away on the 15th November with the game against Iceland on the 18th November still under threat due to England's travel restrictions to Denmark.
Comments