da wazamba： Jude Bellingham “could be a Real Madrid player for life”, says Chris Waddle, with the England international being likened to Paul Gascoigne.
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Midfielder joined Blancos in summer of 2023Working on deal until 2029Setting his sights on major silverware in 2024WHAT HAPPENED?
At just 20 years of age, Bellingham has already starred for Borussia Dortmund and Real – breaking records once posted by Cristiano Ronaldo in Spain – and has seen his No.22 shirt retired at first club Birmingham City. He is a Kopa Trophy and Golden Boy award winner and is proving that he can become another ‘Galactico’ at Santiago Bernabeu.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesWHAT WADDLE SAID ABOUT BELLINGHAM
Ex-England star Waddle believes La Liga giants in the Spanish capital will already be planning contract extension talks, telling of Bellingham’s present and future: “Real Madrid, the way he's playing, will want to extend that probably after three years or four years. So he could be a Real Madrid player for life, which is not a bad thing. But the good thing with Jude Bellingham is he went to Germany first and he learned a lot in Germany. You have to grow up, you have to learn the language – it's a different culture, it's different football. He seems a very level-headed guy who always works hard. His goals sometimes, you know, people score goals and that helps your performances and gives you confidence and Bellingham just seems to score nearly every week now for Real Madrid. So that's all great for Real Madrid but it's also great for England. I know he missed the last game through injury for England, but he's going to be key at a young age; he’s still a key figure going into it.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
England have booked their tickets to next summer’s European Championship in Germany, with Waddle expecting Bellingham to make a Gazza-esque impact at that tournament alongside world-class Three Lions captain Harry Kane. Waddle, who made the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup with Gascoigne as a talismanic team-mate, added: “You see where Gazza probably came into the World Cup in 1990 as an unknown type. What would happen, you know, what would happen with Paul? Would he shine in the tournament? Would he not get noticed Gazza took it on, he just went into it and thought I'm meant to be here, look out, and we all saw the results in 1990 when I was there with Gazza, the performances. Jude Bellingham could go into this tournament and come out as the star player. But teams will do their homework and if you actually look at England, if you stop probably Kane and Bellingham from playing and getting chances, there's not many people to score goals. I know [Phil] Foden chips in with the odd one and [Bukayo] Saka, but these two will be under the spotlight and they'll be under scrutiny by other teams. They'll look at how England play and I think Harry Kane will be marked closely as with Jude Bellingham. So this is another step he's got to come through, especially Bellingham. He's got to go to the tournament, expectations are massive for the lad. When Gazza won in the tournament when I played with him there were no expectations. So we'll see what happens there but if they can keep that form up all season, that is a massive incentive going in there and other teams will be looking at that and they'll be a bit scared.”
Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR BELLINGHAM?
Bellingham has hit 15 goals for Real through 17 appearances in all competitions, but he is nursing a shoulder problem at present – with it possible that he will require surgery at some stage as England count down the days to another shot at continental glory in 2024.