While he refrained from drawing parallels between Jude Bellingham and Lionel Messi, Joe Cole did point out one attribute that the emerging star from England possesses that the Argentinean player did not have in the early stages of his career.
Following his man-of-the-match performance in England’s convincing 3-1 victory over Italy at Wembley on Tuesday night, which secured their place in the European Championship for the following year, Bellingham excelled once again.
The 20-year-old assisted Marcus Rashford of Manchester United for the second goal after winning the penalty that led to Harry Kane’s flawless strike for England.
Bellingham was often talking to his teammates and occasionally tried to get the home crowd at Wembley excited during the match, which saw the hosts fall behind early on.
Brilliant displays at Real Madrid, where he is currently the top scorer in LaLiga, are now being backed up with equally impressive performances for the national team with Cole hailing the midfielder as a ‘leader’ that can guide England to silverware.
Jude Bellingham produced another man-of-the-match performance for England on Tuesday
The 20-year-old unhinged Italy’s midfield in a dominant victory for England against Italy
Joe Cole believes Bellingham is showing similar leadership qualities to Lionel Messi (pictured)
The former forward for Chelsea and England thinks Bellingham can have the same effect on Argentina as he did on them last year, when he was instrumental in their World Cup victory.
Cole said on Channel Four, “I won’t compare him to Messi, but when Messi led Argentina to the World Cup, he can be that type of leader, Messi at 20 wasn’t that mature.”
Cole continued to explain why it makes sense for Bellingham to stay at Madrid, even though he had hinted to the former Birmingham and Borussia Dortmund player that he should switch from the Spanish top division to the Premier League.
The incredibly gifted box-to-box playmaker made the ยฃ113 million summer transfer to the Spanish capital, where he is acclimating to life at the Santiago Bernabeu more quickly and easily than many had anticipated.
“Don Carlo [Ancelotti] will take care of him; he’s got his game together, and Kylian Mbappe will most likely make an appearance next year.”
Man United’s Marcus Rashford described Bellingham as an ‘unbelievable player’ after the win
Ex-England international and Chelsea forward, Cole, hailed Bellingham’s leadership abilities
Bellingham (left) has cemented his place in Gareth Southgate’s (right) Three Lions team
I can see why you would want to return home from the top of the tree in Madrid. There’s no reason to quit a good club, even if you go there and win it all and start thinking you might want to do it at home. You are atop the tree, he continued.
Rashford, Bellingham’s teammate, described his colleague as a “unbelievable player” and voiced similar thoughts in his positive evaluation.
The United star praised the player, saying, “He is an incredible player, full of energy everywhere on pitch, not just qualities.”
Playing with him is a pleasure, and we hope he can keep up the good work. Even if he didn’t score today, the squad will benefit greatly from his obvious influence moving ahead.