World Cup 2026: England’s Jude Bellingham return to indispensability
Fast-forward to today and Real Madrid have not won La Liga or the Champions League since 2023. Amid the off-the-field turmoil at the club, Bellingham has not been able to match the form or prolific goalscoring ...
Fast-forward to today and Real Madrid have not won La Liga or the Champions League since 2023. Amid the off-the-field turmoil at the club, Bellingham has not been able to match the form or prolific goalscoring of that glorious first season.
He's also had a few injuries, with shoulder surgery meaning he missed the start of the season.
And clouds appeared around his England career.
Thomas Tuchel, perhaps as a result of English being his second language, caused a media stir last summer when the new England head coach said his mother viewed some of Bellingham's on-field behaviour as "a bit repulsive".
The comment created a lot of headlines - and did not go down well with those close to Bellingham.
Tuchel later apologised, saying he "used the word unintentionally".
Then in October, after being named England's player of the year, Bellingham was left out of Tuchel's squad.
England had played well without him in September while he was recovering from injury, and he had only played one game for Real since he returned to action.
"He is a special player, and for special players there can always be special rules," Tuchel said at the time.
"But we decided to keep with the straightforward decision of inviting the same group.
"Jude always deserves to be here. He wanted to be called up. We had a phone call."
Reports in Spain offered an alternative scenario - that it was Bellingham who asked to be left out of the squad in order to focus on his fitness.
Ultimately, it seemed like Bellingham was no longer first choice.
Indeed, in June Tuchel said the midfielder had a fight on his hands to feature in England's starting line-up at the World Cup because he had "14 or 15 potential starters" in his squad.
At that time, Bellingham had only appeared in half of the 14 matches since the German took over in January 2025: four starts and three appearances off the bench.
The narrative was: 'should it be Rogers or Bellingham to start at number 10?'
But from the World Cup warm-up matches against New Zealand and Costa Rice, things started to look different - with Bellingham impressing.
In the first World Cup game against Croatia, Bellingham scored a fantastic solo goal to put England 3-2 ahead.
And against Panama, when England were struggling for a breakthrough in the final group game, Bellingham scored the crucial goal to break the deadlock.
While he was substituted in all three group games, Bellingham's form was strong.
Against DR Congo in the last 32, he played an influential full-game.
And then came Mexico.
Two goals in an iconic victory - heralded as one of England's greatest away wins - cemented his resurgence.
In five matches he has won three player of the match awards.
These awards mean he has to do media interviews, where he has portrayed both maturity and humility, playing down his role and speaking up for the team's work ethic and togetherness, while praising his opponents - even offering one of his player awards to the other team.
After the 'who else' celebration of 2024, this time he has said he'd rather assist than score.
His change in tone tallies with his on-field performances. His work-rate is a driving force alongside his talent - remember his goal-saving challenge against Mexico.
He has won praise for being adaptable, in particular in moving between a 10 and eight role at times, depending on the needs of the team, and is a key part of the England leadership group with Kane and others.
It is not know exactly what happened with Tuchel and Bellingham.
Was it all overblown or was there has been some level of the German asserting his leadership over the whole squad - perhaps recognising and managing that main character syndrome?
But whatever the truth, Bellingham has looked happy, has played well and has been a key part of a squad that seems genuinely together.
It is easy to forget, with all he has achieved, that Bellingham is only 23. He has had to mature in the brightest spotlight.
Bellingham - and Kane - have been widely regarded as the indispensable superstars of the England team.
And with a quarter-final against Norway on Saturday, there could be more goals to cement his greatness.