When Gareth Southgate became England boss eight years ago, one of his main jobs was to bring together a squad that was previously split.
The players from England’s “Golden Generation” in the 2000s have said many times that when they got together, there were cliques and club loyalty got in the way of building team spirit.
That’s no longer a problem for the Three Lions because everyone seems to be on the same page. This is especially true when it comes to Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s growing friendship.
Both players have model girlfriends; Alexander-Arnold, 25, is dating British actor Jude Law’s 23-year-old daughter Iris, and Bellingham is dating Dutch influencer Laura Celia Valk, 25. The two have been together nonstop at the Euros, and their bond is only getting stronger on the pitch.
They played together in the middle for England against Serbia in their first Euro 2024 game on Sunday. Bellingham scored the only goal that won the game for his team, making him the star of the show.
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Jude Bellingham (right) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (left) unveiled their new celebration on Sunday and their bromance is blossoming at Euro 2024
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Both men have model girlfriends, with Bellingham dating Dutch influencer Laura Celia Valk (pictured)
Alexander-Arnold is dating Jude Law’s daugther, Iris (pictured), who is also an actress
After putting Bukayo Saka’s cross in from close range, Bellingham, 20, ran off to celebrate with the rest of his team.
But while the other players ran back for the next play, Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold stayed behind to show off their new shared celebration.
Both men got down on one knee and put their hands over their faces. Bellingham later said that it was a reference to the famous game Wolf, or Werewolf, which is played by a lot of the England team.
Mafia, a role-playing and detective game made by Dimitry Davidoff in 1986, is the basis for this card game that requires people to lie and plan ahead.
It puts the “wolves,” a small group of knowledgeable people, against the “villagers,” the large group of ignorant people. Then, each group tries to trick the other to win. The popular BBC One show The Traitors is thought to have been based on this game.
“When we play Wolf, one of the staff loves that face when he doesn’t know what’s going on,” Bellingham told the BBC. “So that was a little group celebration for the Wolf crew.”
Since around the time of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, England’s players have been playing Wolf. This is also when fans first became aware of Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold’s relationship.
As the tournament started, Bellingham quickly became England’s best player. There was a lot of talk about his club future because he was likely to leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season.
Liverpool and Real Madrid looked like they had the best chances of signing him. Some fans thought Alexander-Arnold was trying hard to get Bellingham to join Liverpool when the two of them went for a walk in Qatar.
People started calling Alexander-Arnold “Agent Trent” even though he said he was “just going out with a friend.” The two players were always close to each other while England was in the Middle East.
Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold went for a stroll together in Qatar, with fans convinced the Liverpool star was trying to persuade Jude to join him at Anfield
The pair were virtually inseparable at the 2022 World Cup, and that hasn’t changed since
Bellingham ultimately went on to join Real Madrid, and proved a major hit as he won LaLiga and the Champions League in his first season at the club
After the tournament was over a few months later, they were seen together again when they went to a Chris Brown show.
But if Alexander-Arnold was trying to get his friend to join Liverpool, he failed in the end. Bellingham picked Real Madrid, and things could not have gone better. In his first season, the attacking midfielder won La Liga and the Champions League.
Now it seems like the roles have switched. Alexander-Arnold’s fans recently said that he was “flirting” with Real Madrid after listing two of their legendary players as his dream dinner guests.
The former right back turned midfielder chose Steven Gerrard as his first choice. He then chose Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo to finish his list.
Alexander-Arnold only has one year left on his Liverpool deal. Now that Jurgen Klopp is gone, he may be looking for a new challenge away from the team where he grew up.
If that’s the case, Bellingham may be talking to him in Germany. The two men have been working together a lot.
Before England’s game against Serbia, Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold were seen practicing a new funny kiss move. Ezri Konsa, a defender, was seen smiling in the background.
Then, they were all smiles as they told a joke on the practice field. After that, they played great in England’s first game in Gelsenkirchen.
And Alexander-Arnold showed why Southgate wants to have him on his team, even though he was playing middle, which he wasn’t used to. Bellingham also played very well. Their amazing party at the end of the night was the cherry on top.
Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold were seen perfecting a new handshake in training, with Ezri Konsa watching on in the background
The pair recreated their celebration from the Serbia game in training on Tuesday
They recreated it in training on Tuesday, with fellow midfielder Declan Rice playing photographer to capture the moment, and if either man gets on the scoresheet against Denmark on Thursday, we are likely to see the celebration again.
Questions have been raised over Alexander-Arnold’s ability to play in midfield against top-level opposition, but Bellingham leapt to the defence of his team-mate after Sunday’s match, claiming ‘people talk a lot of rubbish’.
Southgate has a big call to make on whether to stick with Alexander-Arnold. If he does, we can only expect the link-up between Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold to get even better, as they are clearly on the same wavelength.