Manchester United’s one-that-got-away Jude Bellingham opened up on his admiration for the Red Devils’ Premier League legend Wayne Rooney after claiming the Golden Boy award this week.
There are certainly shades of a young Rooney about the way Jude Bellingham has adapted to life at Real Madrid.
Grabbing games by the scruff of the neck through sheer force of will and personality, the influence of Manchester United’s all-time record goalscorer shines through with every barnstorming Bellingham performance in Zinedine Zidane’s old number five shirt.
“It’s about trying to make my team and my country the best teams in the world,” Bellingham said after being crowned this year’s winner at the prestigious Golden Boy awards, emulating the likes of Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Kylian Mbappe and Rooney himself (TNT Sports).
“I think to be the best player in the world, that’s what you have to do. To help your teams win. To join that list (of previous winners) is such a big honour.
“For me I would probably say that Rooney was my biggest influence growing up. Being from England, the way he played, the way he fought…”
This came just after James Maddison spoke about how he also regarded Rooney as the best Premier League player ever.
Manchester United could have had Jude Bellingham
That Bellingham could have followed in Rooney’s footsteps will always be a regret which haunts those at Old Trafford. The then-Birmingham City whizzkid was famously given a guided tour around Carrington back in 2020. He opted for Borussia Dortmund instead, of course.
Whether he would have developed into the man we see before us today at Old Trafford – Bellingham the 20-year-old ring-master of an adoring Real Madrid crowd – is anyone’s guess.
But, if we have learned anything from the Stourbridge-born sensation’s remarkable rise to prominence, it’s that Jude Bellingham is not the sort of player to cower from a challenge.
“We wanted Jude Bellingham badly. He’s a Man United player,” former Old Trafford boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sighed to The Athletic, opening up about United’s £30 million near miss (Sky Sports).
“But I respect he chose Dortmund. That was probably sensible.”
‘Future captain of England’
Rooney, meanwhile, believes Bellingham has everything to pick up where he left off. Not at Old Trafford, however, but by donning the armband for the England international team.
“Jude has got the potential to be one of, if not the best, if he carries on. In my eyes, he’s the future captain of England,” Rooney says, via the Metro.
“We need to protect him and really look at him as the future of England. He just needs to keep (doing) what he’s doing and stay focused.
“He’s only 20. But already he has the career of a 24 or 25-year-old with the big games that he has played and the number of games he’s played.”
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